


People Will Say We're in Love

by AdriannaSharp



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Only One Bed, all of this is flor's fault, flor is chaotic evil, i just put in every single romcom trope I could fit, out of town wedding, trapped together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 63,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24258583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdriannaSharp/pseuds/AdriannaSharp
Summary: It's a Mina x Kunz fake dating AU fic with as many tropes as I could fit.
Relationships: Aino Minako/Kunzite, Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi
Comments: 76
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MinakosAino](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinakosAino/gifts).



> About two years ago, MinakosAino posted on tumblr that she really wished that MinaxKunz fake dating fics existed, which got the wheels in my head turning. She is entirely to blame for this fic but in the best possible way because I had a blast writing it. It is a no powers North American AU so names have changed. I originally planned to still have it set in Japan, but, let's face it, we have some great tropes that revolve around western weddings.
> 
> Huge thanks are owed to my always amazing beta, Cluckster, who patiently read this entire thing with wonderful feedback and sat with me for soundboarding when my creative brain was in a slump. 
> 
> It has been a bit of a crazy ride but it's been wonderful and I am so excited to FINALLY be able to release it to all of you. Enjoy!

Mia sat, staring out the window. The Greyhound bus rumbled underneath her as the countryside rolled by. It was a beautiful day at least. But that was about the only positive that she could think of. The sun was bright and she knew it would be even hotter on her skin when she stepped outside of sort of functioning air conditioning. She always did love the hot weather of July.

A binder sat in her lap, open to a random page but she couldn’t focus on it anymore. There was only so much of Kamden’s life she could take in before she felt the need to gag. And no, that was not the fault of the bus driver, who drove surprisingly smoothly. Well, she supposed that was two positives. But there were definitely no other positives to her current predicament.

It was no secret to their friends that Mia and Kamden did not like each other. If two of his friends weren’t dating two of her friends, they would most certainly never be seen together but, such is life, or however that saying goes.

The reason for them never getting along was because he was an egotistical jerk who seemed to think he was right on absolutely every single thing. Just because he was some kind of big shot lawyer. Probably never worked a day in his life before getting a full ride to law school. Stupid jerk and his stupid entitledness. He was also arrogant and serious and never any fun. Then, after one too many rather public fights, their friends forced them to just stop ever talking to each other unless something nice could be said. After that, they barely spoke and always made an effort to sit as far apart as possible whenever there was a group get together.

And now, she was on her way to spend a weekend with him.

It was a few weeks prior that he asked her for a favour. She was hesitant, of course. What kind of favour could you ask of someone you don’t like? He had escorted her to the spare room in Maggie and Noah’s apartment for some privacy and whatever she expected to happen took a sharp 180.

_“You want me to be your date to a wedding?”  
  
Kamden’s face was its usual stoicness. Of course it was. He never did show emotion, after all.  
  
“Yes. My little sister is getting married.” He was silent after those words, hoping that was going to be enough but the disbelief on her face said that she needed more information. “If you must know, my mother has been...pestering me for some time about my single status. She has been rather insistent about me finding someone so I told her several months ago that I was seeing someone. Unfortunately, in creating this fictitious woman, I did not take into account that I would have to bring said fictitious woman to my sister’s wedding.”  
  
“And you chose me?” Mia said somewhere in between mockery and confusion.  
  
“Yes.” His face was in disbelief as well. _

She took back her earlier thought that he only had one expression. He could show some emotion. But only if it was a negative one and she was around.

_“Unfortunately, my mother knows my friends and their significant others too well for me to utilize one of them. And it would be incredibly inappropriate to ask someone from my work.”  
  
Right. Big shot lawyer at some law firm downtown. Probably weird to ask someone he worked with. And he was such a damn workaholic that he really didn’t have time for anyone else outside of his usual circle. But if he had any kind of thought in his brain, he would know that he had other options too.  
  
“And before you say anything derogatory, no, I will not hire someone from an escort service.”  
  
Damn. How did he know she was thinking that? What was the problem? He could afford it. He must have a ton of money. Hmm. Yeah. He must have a ton of money.  
  
“Well, what would be in it for me?”  
  
“I would pay for the whole weekend, of course. And outside of a few wedding related events, we can completely avoid each other.”  
  
Mia eyed him skeptically.  
  
“That's it?”  
  
“And,” Kamden continued as if it pained him to continue, “my firm recently gained a new client. If the weekend goes well, I could arrange a meeting with Florencia.”  
  
Mia eyes popped. “The casting director?!”  
  
It was true that Mia had been trying for years to get her big break in the entertainment industry. Her friends knew it, their partners knew it, and, of course, Kamden knew it. This could make her career. Florencia was known for finding new talent and sparking their careers. She would KILL to get a meeting with her._

_But she also didn't want to quite admit defeat yet so she pulled in her excitement for one more clause to the deal.  
  
“And you'll pay for two new dresses for me for the weekend?”  
  
“Two?”  
  
“Yes. I need options. And you want me to look presentable, don't you?”  
  
Kamden sighed before holding his hand out. “Deal.”_  
  
Mia pulled out of her reverie. She tried to enjoy the summer sights but she couldn’t. She looked back down at the binder in her lap and mock gagged. She had insisted that they just wing it but he disagreed. He had to make things so much more complicated, as usual. She had met boyfriend’s parents before and she always come off lovely and charming and promising the mother she would keep in touch. It would be easy. Instead of winging it, he made a comprehensive binder listing details that he felt she should know, things a girlfriend would know. How they met (common friends, at least he stuck with that one), their first date (that fancy Michelin restaurant she always forgot the name of), their second date (the botanical gardens), the first movie they saw together (some pretentious European movie she had never heard of), his family (both parents still alive and one soon to be wed little sister), and it went on.

At first, she tried to look at this as an opportunity to practice her acting skills. Surely, a weekend of playing a doting girlfriend would be good practice, right? At first, she took the binder with enthusiasm, determined to learn her part. But then, as she got further into the details, she found it harder and harder to continue. The thought of dating Kamden was just…weird. And as the date loomed closer, she found herself pushing the binder away. But she was due at the station in under an hour and if she wanted to woo Kamden’s family and get that meeting with Florencia, she had to learn the last few pages quickly.  
  
The wedding was in a small town a four hour bus ride outside of the city. Apparently it was a good mid point for a lot of the family to come in from. They were staying at a hotel a little ways from the station and the wedding was being held on-site. Unfortunately, she had to go up on a Thursday because the weekend had a lot more events than a normal wedding. She flipped back to the front of the binder to refresh herself.

Thursday evening: Family dinner

Friday evening: Games night with the friends

Saturday: Wedding

Sunday: Leave the agonizing weekend with, hopefully, a step closer in her career to what she had been working towards for years.

Okay, the binder didn’t actually say that but it might as well have. It was bad enough she had to spend the weekend with Kamden but to spend it with his family was going to make it even worse. They would all be like him: emotionless, boring, and disagree with her on absolutely everything. And it would probably be just boring conversations about their 401K’s and their weekend trips on their luxurious boats over games of Scrabble. It was gonna suck but she knew she could smile and nod her way through it. Before this weekend, she hadn’t even thought of him with family. He never talked about them so she just sort of assumed he didn’t have any or he wasn’t close with them. Apparently it was the latter.

Kamden didn’t say much about his sister in the binder. Just that she was four years younger than he was, she was a kindergarten teacher, and that the groom was an old friend of Kamden’s. Apparently the couple met through him.

She was probably like the kindergarten teacher Mia had. She was mean and cold and if you weren’t quiet all the time, she would threaten you with a whap across the wrists. Mia could still hear the threatening swish noise of the small wooden rod and she found herself imagining that Kamden’s sister would have one too when she came in. And she would be wearing some kind of grey pantsuit. Not a nice calming grey. No, it would be a dark grey that meant business. And her hair would probably be pulled into a tight bun with no flyaways.

Her phone vibrated next to her and she tried not to shudder when she saw who the text was from. _Did you manage to catch the bus?  
_  
Only he could sound so condescending over text. To even it out, she typed back in her most sarcastic manner.  
  
_Yes. I did catch the bus. I’m not a moron.  
_  
_Good.  
_  
Was that really all he had to say? Jerk.  
  
She thought about going back to the binder but she pushed it away with a grimace. Instead, she pulled up her contacts and called her roommate.  
  
“Mia?”  
  
“Hey Rayna.”  
  
Both girls paused. Rayna waited for Mia to say why she was calling, but Mia wasn’t sure what to say.  
  
“What’s up?” Rayna asked. “Shouldn’t you be on the bus right now?”  
  
“I am.” She paused again, twirling a piece of her long blonde hair before continuing, “Am I crazy? This is crazy, right?”  
  
Mia could see Rayna’s smirk over the phone.  
  
“I did say the whole thing was insane.”  
  
“Thanks for the encouragement,” Mia drawled.  
  
“If you wanted encouragement, you should have called Maggie. Also, she said that if you called, I was to remind you how very generous she was to give you this weekend off.”

“The café will be fine without me. She already flexes my shifts for auditions anyways. This is no different.”

“I’ll be sure to tell her that. Anyways, back to my point. You called me so you must have wanted me to talk you out of it.”  
  
“No. I don’t want that. Just...do you think this is doable?”  
  
Rayna sighed. “If you’re both committed to it and don’t yell at each other, maybe.”

Right. The yelling. To be fair, it didn’t happen often. The last time was ages ago, six whole months.

_“What the hell do you mean?” she asked._

_“Simply that if you do not want to have children because of a night out, people should be careful about their-” he paused, searching for the right word, “dalliances.”_

_“So people should just never go out and enjoy themselves? Is that it?”_

_“No, that’s not what I-”_

_“Or do you think we should all be abstinent and boring like you?”_

_“If you would just listen-”_

_Before Kamden could finish, Noah slammed his hands on the table. “Stop it both of you.” They both stopped and sat back. At least Kamden had the sense to look mildly embarrassed. Well, as much as a piece of granite could look embarrassed. “Hearing you two argue is not what I had in mind for my birthday so if you could both just cut it out, you won’t have to leave.”_

_Mia shrinked back in her seat as Noah changed the topic. She loved Noah, he was a great friend. But while he was usually the happiest of the group, Noah could be downright scary when he was mad. So Mia glanced at Kamden and they both nodded as if to say that they will just never be in the same conversation again._

Stupid Kamden. He always had to escalate things. Avoiding the same conversation did work, with some near misses. But it also helped that sometimes she would just stay home if it was a hangout that involved the guys.  
  
“And how do I manage that?”  
  
“Mia, you’re an actress. Just act like there’s something about Kamden that you find desirable.”  
  
Mia slumped her head against the window. “Any suggestions?”  
  
“You won't believe a thing I have to say anyways. Pick things you can work with. He’s attractive, right? Use that. Find a few things about him that you can latch onto and talk about to his family.”  
  
Mia massaged her temple with her free hand. “That’s going to be hard.”  
  
“Then get off the bus at the next station, turn around, and go home.”  
  
“And miss my chance with Florencia?”  
  
“That’s up to you. But if you do want that meeting, you have to do a good job impressing his family and pretending like you’re in love with him.”  
  
“Whoa. No one said anything about being in love. We just have to pretend we’re dating.”  
  
“Mia, you don’t bring someone that casual to your little sister’s wedding. If you bring someone to a wedding, it’s someone that you’re going to be in love with.”  
  
Shit. Rayna was absolutely right. How could she overlook that? Shit shit shit.  
  
“So I have to be lovey dovey with Kamden?” The thought almost made her retch.  
  
“What were you expecting to do before?”  
  
Mia shrugged, although she knew Rayna couldn’t see that. “I don’t know. Just hold hands and be lovely to his family?”  
  
“You know Kamden will need more than that. If you’re going to sell this, you need to do more than that. Channel Maggie. You know how lovey dovey she gets with Noah.”  
  
Mia pictured the couple in the midst of one of their cutesy wutesy talks and chuckled. “Thanks. That kind of helps.”  
  
“Good. Are you alright now?”  
  
Mia let out a breath. “I think so.”  
  
“Good. Because I have to go. Jaden is burning lunch.”  
  
Mia hung up and used the rest of the time on the bus to begrudgingly learn the rest of the binder. Fortunately, it wasn't overly complicated and she was able to skip some redundant parts Kamden wrote. Did she really need to know what his favourite food was? Or the colour of the walls in his apartment?  
  
The final section was, oddly, about her. It would seem that Kamden told his mother some details when pressured so, of course, Kamden felt the need to include all those details too. According to him, Mia was a receptionist who enjoyed art museums and dabbled in fine wine.  
  
She scoffed. A receptionist? How dull and uninspired was that? Was this the kind of woman Kamden looked for? Well, she supposed that would be perfect for him. She wouldn’t threaten his success and they could be dull and uninspiring together.   
  
As the bus slowed to a stop, Mia felt her pocket vibrate again and shuddered. Of course it was another text from him.  
  
_I’m in the parking lot._  
  
Mia groaned. It was a half hour drive to the hotel they were staying at. Mia insisted she could take a cab but Kamden seemed to think it would look better if they arrived together. And of course he had to drive. He was too good to ride a bus or take a cab like a normal person.  
  
_Okay_ she replied and resisted the urge to add a rolling eyes emoji.  
  
She hoisted her bright yellow suitcase out of the overhead bin and wiped her brow at the sun’s heat beating down as she stepped off. Her wheels click clacked on the tiles as she made her way through the station and finally through to the parking lot. He was standing by his too fancy car, sunglasses on. Women stared at him as they passed and Mia remembered Rayna’s words. _“He’s attractive, right? Use that.”_

Sure, he was attractive. She wasn’t blind. He had a strong jawline, broad shoulders, and always dressed well. It was just his personality that was so unattractive. She wanted to yell the truth to the women passing by, that he was arrogant and entitled and probably wouldn’t give them a second glance unless they were models or other lawyers or something.

He raised his hand slightly to get her attention and Mia could feel the jealous looks on her back.

“Hi,” he said as she approached.

“Hi.”

An awkward moment passed between them before he reached for her suitcase. “I can get that. The car’s unlocked.”

She muttered in acquiescence, slid into the car, and realized she was wrong. His car wasn’t just too fancy, it was WAY too fancy. There were a ton of buttons that she couldn’t even figure out the purpose of. There was a fancy screen mounted on the dash and she found herself waiting for some kind of personalized AI to jump out of it.

The driver door opened and Kamden slid in. The car started up again but the engine was so quiet, she barely noticed. The only sign of the car starting was the screen coming to life and a full blast of AC.

It was at this point that normal people would make small talk. He would ask how the bus ride was or tell her a bit about the hotel they were staying at. But no. This was Kamden and he was Mr. Silent, Mr. Unfriendly. He could never be bothered to say something nice to someone else. So she supposed it had to be up to her.

“So have you been to this place before?”

“No. But that does remind me.” He reached down to the console and punched in an address on the screen. Next thing Mia knew, she heard an electronic female voice coming out of the console, directing them where to go. Kamden seemed to have forgotten Mia’s question and stayed silent.

So much for small talk.

Well, if he was going to be silent, she could too. She fiddled with the radio, trying to find a good station. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes but said nothing. She found something with some fun pop and settled back in her seat. It was only a half hour to the hotel. She could manage that.

Well, she lasted seven and a half minutes.

“Are you going to be like this all weekend?”

“Like what?”

She gestured at him wildly. “Like this. All stony and quiet. Can’t you be a little more interesting?”

“Interesting,” he echoed in a deadpan voice.

“Yes. Interesting. I can’t work off a piece of granite all weekend.”

“Are we trying to impress someone right now?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it again. “No.”

“That’s why I made the binder. No extra contact with us, right?”

Mia shrugged. “I guess. So you just want to figure this out when we get there?”

“You act as if it’s going to be difficult. As long as we have both prepped for this, this weekend will run smoothly. And I thought it best not to talk too much if it wasn't necessary. Keep the peace and all.”

Mia picked at a loose thread on her shorts to avoid looking at him. That was a pretty good point, she supposed. If the two of them ever fell into a conversation, it always escalated into a full on argument. If only he didn’t have to be so disagreeable all the time.

She realized she still hadn't said anything so she muttered, “I guess that makes sense.”

The sounds of a pop song filled the silence and Mia decided to watch the scenery, though there wasn't much. Just lots of trees. Then, she heard the music change.

Kamden's hands were still on the wheel but it was definitely a different station. He probably had fancy controls on his steering wheel.

“What was that for?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I changed the music. Those top 40 pop songs give me a headache.”

“So? I was enjoying it. And besides, it wouldn't kill you to listen to it for a half an hour. May I remind you that I am taking a weekend out of my life to do something nice for you?”

“Something nice?” He scoffed. It was the most emotion she heard in his voice the whole ride. “You're only here so you can meet Florencia so don't pretend like you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart.”

Damn. He had her there.

“Well,” she trailed off for a moment, trying to find the right words. “If I were in your shoes, I would at least try to make a guest feel welcome.”

She crossed her arms, sank into her seat, and rested her feet up against the dash.

He swatted them down without taking his eyes off the road. “My car, my rules.”

“You know, it wouldn't kill you to do something nice once in a while.”

“Like let you dirty my car and blast your terrible music? No thank you.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “That's not what I meant.”

“It's exactly what you meant. You want to have your own way.”

“What?”

He shrugged and continued as if it was common knowledge. “You do. And no one else’s opinion matters.”

She was aghast. “Excuse me?”

“Come on. At least admit it. It’s obvious.”

Her cheeks reddened. How dare he? “I don’t do that. I just try to include people.”

“Against their will.

Her face grew an even brighter red. “Well at least I'm not a stick in the mud with a stick up my own stick ass!”

“At least I don't always have to be the center of attention. I understand subtlety and I don’t make everyone around me uncomfortable.”

If steam could be coming out of Mia's ears, they would be.

“Pull over!” she demanded.

He raised an eyebrow but obliged. Before the car could fully stop, she was out the door. She walked around to the back of the car and struggled a bit before she stormed over to his window.

“Open the trunk please,” she said. Her voice was calm but her teeth were clenched.

He pulled a latch and she stormed to the back of the car again. After an awkward yank, she hoisted her suitcase out of the trunk and began walking away.

Kamden sighed and stepped out. “Where are you going?”

“Isn't it obvious? Back to the bus station. I clearly won't be respected this weekend so there's no point in me staying.”

She paused, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he glanced over her, settling on her feet. “It's probably about a three hour walk back to the station and those shoes don't seem to be built for that.”

True, her wooden wedges were less than suitable for the rocky sides of the road. “I’ll call a cab then.”

He leaned against the car, as if he had all day. “Do you even know where you are?”

She was aware of the long pause she took but she still said, “Of course”

He said nothing. He just stood there and stared at her. It was a challenge. He was calling her bluff.

“Well, I should start back to the bus station then,” she said. “Anything is better than being in that car with you for five more minutes.”

With that, she flipped her long golden hair and continued walking away.

“Okay then. Good luck.”

She didn’t even look back as she reached her arm high and waved goodbye. She waited for him to get back in his car. She waited to hear the hum of an engine and the sound of him driving away. Then she remembered how quiet his car was. Damn. Did he already drive away? Should she risk a look over her shoulder?

She forced herself to count to twenty as she walked away. Then she took a glance over her shoulder.

He was still there. In fact, he hadn’t even moved.

“Are you done?” he called out to her. “Will you get back in the car?”

She turned around and took several steps towards him. “What do you mean?” she yelled back. “I’m storming off. Tell your family I was sick or something.”

“You and I both know that you’re not going to miss out on a chance with Florencia. Now will you stop wasting time and get back in the car?”

Her eyes darted back and forth as she weighed her options. Her act of storming off was supposed to make him apologize but if she went back now, he had the high ground. And she didn’t like losing.

On the other hand, it was true what he said. She could just prolong this and hope she ended up with the higher ground. But she also had a feeling that he wasn’t going to budge. He was definitely stubborn like that. Stupid stubborn jerk.

“Okay.” She was still a fair distance from him so she still had to raise her voice. “I’ll come back. But you have to be nicer to me.”

Mia thought she saw him roll his eyes behind his sunglasses but she was too far away to tell. “Fine.”

She walked back to him, expecting him to step forward and help her with her suitcase again but he just got back in the car. She hoisted her suitcase back in the still open trunk and made sure to slam it shut with more force than necessary.

Mia stared out the window as the drive continued. She didn’t think she could look at him without getting mad again. Neither had said a word since she got back in the car. She thought about trying to find a neutral conversation point but her imagination kept coming up with ways he would argue with her.

Okay. Maybe he was right. Maybe they should just avoid talking to each other unless they had someone to convince that they were madly in love. So instead, she flipped through her phone and the radio stayed quiet. The only sound she heard was his dash, telling him where to go.

As they turned the corner and pulled into the hotel, Mia forgot about her vow of silence.

“It’s gorgeous!”

It really was. It was a little more modern than what she expected for a hotel in the middle of nowhere. There were glass walls intermixed with the wood and it blended perfectly amid the surrounding greenery and fresh country air.

After pulling out their suitcases, they made their way into the building. It was beautiful. Rich, dark wood mixed with brickwork and large glass walls. Rooftops rose high to a peak, making the dark wood seem more airy, and doors were wide open, letting in the warm summer air. But it got a bit gloomier when Kamden took her hand. It felt weird. His hand was stiff and had callouses. Before she could ask why, she realized a middle aged couple was walking towards them.

“Kamden. You made it.”

It was the woman who spoke. She had long dark hair and a friendly smile. The man with her had neatly trimmed hair and glasses and she assumed them to be his parents.

“Hi mom. Hi dad.”

Mia forced herself to stand a little straighter, her posture for girlfriend who was madly in love. At the last second, she stepped closer to him. Intimacy, right? She didn’t miss the look he threw her. But it passed quickly. His parents were approaching fast.

His mother pulled him in for a hug and then smiled wider when she looked at Mia.

“So, you must be Mia.”

“I am. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Kamden has told me so much about you.”

Her words had the desired effect of making his mother blush.

“I’m so glad to hear that. We haven’t seen him in ages and he kept refusing to send me any photos of you. I was starting to wonder if you even existed.”

“Well, it is hard to get him to be in a picture with me. If it wasn’t for us going out in the daylight, I would have thought he was a vampire.”

Mia felt Kamden’s hand squeeze a little harder but his parents were laughing. Then his dad interjected. “Kamden never was one for photos. He always looked far too serious in them.”

Mia laughed but she felt like Kamden was getting annoyed. He overcompensated for it well though.

“Well, we should really check in. We don’t have too much time before dinner and we should get settled.”

“Oh,” his mother began, ruffling through her purse. “I actually got you checked in already. You two are in room...” She pulled out a key card and squinted at the number, “204.”

She handed Kamden the key card and it wasn’t until she let go that he realized what she said.

“Both of us in the same room?”

“Of course,” his mother waved her hand dismissively. “You’re an adult now. We are perfectly comfortable with you two staying in the same room.” Kamden looked shell shocked. If Mia wasn’t so shocked herself, she would have wished she had a camera. “Now hurry up you two.” She glanced at her watch. “Kamden’s right. There really isn’t too much time before dinner tonight and I would love to get together with you both before that so we can get to know you.”

“Of course,” Mia said, keeping her voice soft and light. “I would love that.”

“Perfect. Then we’ll meet you in the restaurant at four thirty?”

“That sounds wonderful.”

With a wave, his parents walked away and it took Mia and Kamden a moment before they snapped back to reality.

“Let’s go,” he said, letting go of her hand.

She was happy to let go and took the moment to rub at her face. Maybe that smile had been overcompensating a bit.

The trip to the second floor was quiet and when they reached their door, Kamden swiped his card and held the door open for her. Mia raised her eyebrows and wondered where the sudden chivalry was coming from.

“Take the luggage in. I’m going to get another room.”

So much for chivalry.

The door closed behind him and Mia was left to check out the room. It was lighter and airier than the rest of the hotel. The walls were off white with wood accents. The bed was large and looked incredibly comfortable. That was confirmed when she ran her hand over it and experimentally flopped onto it. But what really caught her eye was the view. The balcony was large with a couple of chairs and looked out on a sea of green. She felt herself getting calmer already.

Then the door opened again. Loudly. Leave it up to him to break the serenity.

Mia walked back inside and saw the frustrated look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“The place is completely booked.”

“What?”

He huffed before continuing. “We’ll just have to make do with the separate beds and not look at each other.”

Kamden was still in the entryway. He didn't see the bed. He didn’t know.

“Umm. That might be a bit difficult. That’s not really an option,” she said pointing towards the bed that he couldn’t see.

He quirked an eyebrow and walked in to see that there was very much only one large bed.

“Shit.”


	2. Chapter 2

The two stared at the bed in silence. Mia wasn’t sure if it was a minute that passed or if it was an hour. But a knock at the door pushed them both out of their stupor. Kamden smirked ever so slightly (she must have imagined that) as he went to answer it.

“Who is it?” he called out.

“It’s your favourite sister. Now open the door. Mom told me you’re here.”

Right. His sister. Mia took a breath and prepared herself for the super serious, grey pantsuit sister.

“What’s the password?” he called back.

Mia raised her eyebrows. Was Kamden joking? Serious-faced Kamden?

“The password is you haven’t come to visit me in months and I miss you.”

Her voice was high and surprisingly sweet sounding. Kamden seemed to take that as an acceptable answer and opened the door.

But Mia couldn’t see her. Was Kamden just that tall? Or was she just really short? All she saw was a pair of arms that encircled Kamden’s waist. And...were those bunny slippers on her feet?

“You jerk. Why haven’t you come to see me?”

Kamden leaned on the door frame. “I could say the same for you.”

“I’ve been working and planning a wedding. You could have taken some time off to come and see me. I haven’t had any time off.”

“I’m a lawyer. There’s no such thing as time off. You’re lucky I got time off this weekend.”

Mia heard a laugh and a soft slap.

“You wouldn’t miss my wedding. Especially since mom bugged you so much about your love life. Speaking of which, is she here?”

Mia saw bits of blonde hair poking over Kamden’s shoulder and then over his arms but he moved each time to block her view.

“Maybe if you behave yourself, you can meet her.”

Mia heard an audible pout. “Don’t be a jerk. This is my wedding weekend. That means you’re not allowed to say no to me.”

Hands came around and grabbed at Kamden’s love handles to tickle him. He buckled and she took the opportunity to leap past him. He swiped to grab her but his fingers only grazed her arm.

Kamden had ticklish spots? But that quickly disappeared from Mia’s priorities when she saw Kamden’s sister. Her blonde hair was in twin buns on her head with long tails. She had a wide smile on her face, a pink dress, and she dashed straight to Mia, who found herself looking into the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

“Hi. I’m Bunny.”

No amount of acting classes could have prepared Mia for this.

This was Kamden’s sister? This girl with blonde pigtails, a pink dress, bunny slippers, and the warmest smile she had ever seen, was related to Kamden?  
  
There had to have been a mistake at the hospital.

“You’re Kamden’s sister?” she said, repeating her thought.

“I am,” she said, smiling but then she turned to Kamden, who was now fully recovered from the attack on his love handles. “You didn’t tell her a thing about me, did you? You’re a terrible brother.”

“I am a fantastic brother,” he said.

Mia recovered enough to make the appropriate pleasantries. “It’s nice to meet you,”  
  
The girl, Bunny, giggled. “It’s okay,” she said as she gestured between herself and Kamden. “Most people are shocked when they see the two of us together for the first time.” Bunny looked back at Kamden and whispered behind her hand, “It’s because he’s so crabby.”  
  
“I am appropriately serious,” Kamden said.  
  
Bunny stuck out her tongue. “You’re too serious and you know it. Besides, it’s not about you right now. You’re ignoring your girlfriend and I want to talk with her.” Bunny turned to Mia. “He’s terrible. Kamden’s barely told me anything about you. Tell me about you.”  
  
Mia flicked her eyes back and forth. Frankly, she was still trying to get a handle on the whole situation. Bunny being an absolute ray of sunshine was still throwing her for a bit of a loop.   
  


“Well, what do you want to know?”

Bunny smiled. “Everything.”

Kamden brought his hands down on her shoulders. “I think everything might take a bit too long right now. We’re meeting mom and dad soon and you should probably get back to Matthew.”

Bunny stuck out her tongue. “Spoilsport. You’re just trying to interfere.” She glanced down at her phone and then threw Kamden a glare. “You’re lucky you’re right. I should go get ready.” She winked at Mia before she left. “This isn’t the end of our conversation. Let’s talk later, okay?”

“Sure,” Mia said with an encouraging nod.

And the next moment, Bunny was gone.

-

“Are you ready yet?”

“Almost,” she called back.

After Bunny’s departure, Mia and Kamden said as little as possible. She claimed the bathroom for herself to get ready, after telling Kamden he didn’t need a mirror or any space to get ready. So she locked herself in the bathroom for the last forty minutes to do her hair and makeup and practice her loving girlfriend face.

“Showing up late isn’t exactly the best way to make a good impression on my parents.”

“We have plenty of time.”

She didn’t mention to Kamden that she was also texting with Rayna.

_His sister is so nice. How?_

_He’s not some kind of demon spawn. You know he can be nice too, right?_

Mia could imagine Rayna rolling her dark eyes. Between mascara applications, she texted back.

_When? Every time I’m not around?_

_Try to see it. You have to be nice to him this weekend anyways._

_Fine. Gotta go_

Kamden’s knocking got louder. “It’s almost 4:30”

Mia tucked away her mascara wand. “And I’ll be ready in plenty of time,” she called back.

It was true, actually. All she had left to do was slip on her dress. And what a dress it was. She carefully removed her new dress from the hanger and slid it on. It fit like a dream. The thick blue satin hugged her in a way that was far better than anything in her usual price range. Her usual wardrobe was filled with things she found second hand or on last season’s discount rack. This was completely different. She couldn’t help but run her fingers over it and marvel at how smooth the fabric was. At least if the weekend was a bust, she got a couple damn nice dresses out of it.

She stepped out of the bathroom to see that Kamden was checking the time for probably the thousandth time.

“Finally. We better go.”

Mia raised her eyebrows as she reached for her shoes. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”

“What?” he asked, genuinely confused.

She stretched out her arms as if to say ‘look at all this effort I put in’. “How about a ‘you look nice’? You’re never going to convince anyone that we’re dating if you act like that.”

He sighed and stood up from tying his shoes. “Are we trying to impress anyone right now? Or are you just fishing for compliments?”

“I don’t do that,” she said, stomping her foot.

He paused a moment too long before saying, “Of course you don’t. Now let’s go.”

He practically rushed her out of the room as she was slipping on her other shoe and adjusted it while hopping the last few steps towards the stairs.

“Slow down, will you? The restaurant is downstairs. Why are you rushing?”

“Because being late is incredibly rude.” He grabbed her by the hand, surprisingly gentle as they walked down the stairs. “And we should probably start acting accordingly in case we run into anyone. And don’t forget to smile,” he said in a hushed voice.

“I don’t need acting lessons from you,” she whispered back. “And I’ll be sure to be extra receptionisty.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That apparently you want a woman to be lower than you so she doesn’t threaten your success. That’s your dream girl, right? Otherwise why would you give me that as a career?”

He stopped just outside the restaurant and turned to her. “Okay, listen,” he began. His voice was oddly softer than she usually heard it. “That’s not what I intended.”

His softer voice was strange to hear. It could only mean one thing. A trap. “Well, it says a lot about you, doesn’t it? Now let’s go. You were worried about being late.”

Before he could respond, she tugged on his hand and put on her brightest smile.

It was more of a lounge than a restaurant, with lighting on the dimmer side, exposed brick, and chairs of soft leather. She saw Kamden’s parents at a table near the entrance. She pushed any nervousness and put on her loving girlfriend mask that she practiced in the bathroom. She would prove to him that she was so much more than just a receptionist.

As if his mother had a sixth sense, her head popped up and she was out of the booth in a moment. She wrapped Mia in a hug before she could react and Mia put all her love into returning it. She was going to win over his parents if it killed her. Not just to get that meeting with Florencia but to spite Kamden.

“It’s so lovely to see you again Mrs. Taylor,” she said in her warmest tone.

She pulled away and waved a hand. “Please. Call me Eileen.”

“So,” Ken began, “the elusive Mia. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“And you,” she said. Mia tried to keep her smile from being too awkwardly wide. No overcompensating. This still had to seem natural.

She slid into the booth, Kamden behind her. She tried to make it seem like habit that she slid closer to Kamden in the seat. Did they look couple-y enough? Just in case, she threw Kamden a dazzling smile, although it made her mentally gag.

It seemed to work since Eileen watched them with admiring eyes and said, “You two are so sweet.”

Good so far. Now to dial it up just a bit. Making sure to flutter her eyelashes she looked up at him and said, “I just can’t get enough of him.”

Kamden smiled uncharacteristically and looked down at her. “What can I say? She’s very special.”

It was weird to see him smile like that. It was kind of like seeing a rat that liked to snuggle. Was he trying to one up her? Well, she could beat that.

“And he’s the specialest. I just love him so much. It hurts to be away from him.”

He narrowed his eyes at her ever so slightly and she smiled back.

Fortunately, Eileen didn’t notice their little exchange. She put her hands to her chest. “That warms my heart. Kamden, it’s so nice to see you with someone. I was starting to think you would be a forever bachelor. Now, you two met through some friends, is that right?”

Judging by the glint in Eileen’s eyes, she had not forgotten that information and simply wanted to be regaled with how her son found love. And Mia would absolutely deliver.

“That’s right,” Mia said. “A couple of his friends are dating a couple of friends of mine. We met at…” she paused, as if to gather her thoughts dramatically, “it was Noah’s birthday, wasn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“I saw him walk in and I said to myself that I wouldn’t leave until he asked me out.”

“It wasn’t a hard challenge you set for yourself,” he chuckled. He chuckled? Who was this man? What the hell was he trying to achieve? Well, other than one-upping her.

“Within two hours, I charmed my way to him and he asked for my number.”

“That must have been quite some conversation,” Ken said. “What did you say to him to get him?”

Mia waved her hand. “Oh, this and that. I don’t know if I quite remember. Do you, honey?”

He smiled. To his parents it would seem like he was recalling a fond memory but Mia recognized the devious intent behind it. “It was a rather good lawyer pun if I recall. I was surprised at her knowledge of law practices.”

Damn it damn it damn it. What the hell was he thinking? She scanned his stony face. He must have known her law knowledge was minimal.

“Impressive,” his father said. “Where did you learn enough to keep up with Kamden?”

She smiled at Kamden again, partially to stall but partially to shoot with him malice through her wide smile. He hoped that he would catch her message of ‘I will pay you back’.

“My uncle,” she finally said after realizing it was a bit too long of a pause. “My uncle is a lawyer so I grew up around all the jargon. And the opinions. Whenever there was a story in the news, he would always have to put in his two cents.”

“Well I’m very glad it worked out like that. Otherwise you two might not be here. Now, where is it that you work? Kamden has been very secretive about it. I think he was terrified I would look you up myself.”

Damn. He hadn’t put that information in the binder. All thoughts of where she could work went blank. She needed to stall.

“Well, I’m a receptionist.”

“He did tell me that but he refused to tell me where.” Eileen glanced at her son. “If I am allowed to ask her now?”

Kamden gestured as if to say ‘go ahead’ but Mia was still drawing a blank. And was Kamden smirking? Damn him. He did this intentionally, didn’t he?

She cursed Kamden and promised to pay him back. She had nothing to go on. He hadn’t told her or his mother anything.

Then she realized it. He hadn’t told his mother _anything_.

“A recording studio,” she said confidently. “I work for a recording studio.”

“That sounds so exciting,” Eileen said. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the industry but I would love to look it up. What’s it called?”

“I can’t say it, unfortunately. We’re a newer company and getting ready to launch and we have some big things coming so I can’t say much about it.”

His parents looked sufficiently impressed and satisfied without asking more questions. Mia threw Kamden a victory smile but he wasn’t looking her way. Instead, he was trying to flag down a server. Really? How was she supposed to gloat properly if he wouldn’t even look at her?

“Well,” Kamden said, “I suppose now that the ice is broken, I should get us some drinks.” He glanced at Mia with that weird smile again and asked, “What would you like?”

“Vodka cranberry please,” she said with an equally over the top smile. She thought about giggling when she said it but decided against it. This was definitely a more grown up meeting than when she was 19 and met her boyfriend’s parents.

“Absolutely,” he replied. His fingers lingered on hers for a moment before he stepped away. Mia was surprised. He was doing better than she expected. He was a surprisingly good actor. It was weird. She wondered if he had the same gagging feeling she was trying to suppress.

“No wine?” Ken asked.

Mia jerked her attention back to the table. “Sorry?”

“I was asking why you aren’t having any wine. Kamden mentioned you have a love of European wine. This hotel actually has quite a large list of it.”

Crap. Right. She was supposed to love wine. “Well,” she began, “even I need a break from it every now and then. Once you taste so many, you need to let your palate rest, right?” She hoped she was getting the terminology right. It was palate, right? Or was the phrase on the tongue?

“I suppose. You’ll have to give me some recommendations sometime. I’m afraid I don’t know the difference. Maybe I just don’t have the right taste buds.”

Mia forced a laugh. “It does take the right kind of palate to differentiate it.” Damn. Was she saying palate too much?

This was too much. She needed to take the focus off of herself. Other than the wine comment, Ken had been rather quiet and she thought it best to engage him as well. “So I hear you’re a journalist. That must be exciting.”

“It’s no recording studio but it can be rather exciting. We were first on the scene for the CEO who was laundering money.”

Mia was grateful that she had such a good memory. “You mean the Newman scandal? That was such high profile news. You must be proud to get it out first.”

The smile on Ken’s face was clear as he said, “I spearheaded the investigation. I’m very happy with how it turned out.”

“You should be. It was a very impressive piece.”

It was true. Mia got most of her news through social media since she hated how mainstream news would fluff up things rather than tell the simple facts. And Ken’s piece was well informed and to the point.

Before they could discuss it further, Eileen jumped back in. “Now, what else do you like to do Mia? Kamden told me you love the art world but I’m afraid we would be terribly dull to talk to about it. We don’t know the first thing about what makes good art vs bad art.”

Mia wasn’t sure what to say. Wine, art, and being a receptionist was all Kamden gave her. What else could she say?

“I…I love movies.”

“Fantastic,” Ken said. “What do you like to watch?”

Eileen took her husband’s arm and gave it a pat. “Don’t mind him if he gets a bit excited. If you have the same taste in movies, he might just keel over.”

Damn. Why didn’t Kamden mention that? She glanced at him over at the bar, hoping he would hurry and give her a hint. But he was still standing at the bar. The bartender was going agonizingly slow. She was on her own.

“Actually, I really like the golden age of Hollywood. Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, that era.”

“I’ve seen a few but they were a little before my time.”

“So what kind of movies do you like?”

“Anything classically Godzilla. My father loved them and he passed on the addiction to me.”

Mia smiled. “King Kong vs Godzilla was always my favourite. You can’t get any better than two such classic monsters.”

Ken indeed looked like he would keel over right then and there. “I like this girl.”

Kamden returned with the drinks, not missing his father’s elated face. “What did you all talk about while I was gone?”

Mia took her drink, smiled, and sipped. She wouldn’t give details about how successful she was all by herself. “Oh, you know. This and that.”

Mia leaned back into her seat. Only ten minutes, and she already had his parents intrigued and impressed with her. That audition was as good as hers.

As the drinks continued, the four continued to chat. Mia told them about her family (although there wasn't much to tell since she was an only child) and she asked more about their hobbies. She learned that Eileen recently took up scrapbooking and was recently making books of her kids growing up.

“Don’t worry,” she said behind her hand to block out Kamden, “We still need to go through some pictures to display at the wedding. I think I have a few of Kamden in there too. He wasn’t allowed to say no to me when he was younger and brought out the camera.”

Mia smiled devilishly. This would be excellent blackmail. And Eileen would probably encourage her to take photos with her phone so she could have them.

Kamden gripped her hand a little harder but she ignored it. The opportunity was just too good to pass up.

“I would love to see them. He is far too shy about his childhood.”

“Gladly,” Eileen smiled back.

As the conversation shifted from photos to TV shows, Mia could see other people start to file into the restaurant.

“I can't believe it's already 6:00,” Eileen said and grabbed Ken’s attention. “We should go see to them. Bunny and Matthew will probably be late anyways,” Eileen said with a suggestive wink to Kamden.

Mia had to stifle a giggle but Kamden blushed fiercely. She could hardly believe her eyes. She never thought she would see a piece of granite blush.

“Mother,” Kamden said, dragging out the two syllables a bit longer.

“They’re practically married. It’s fine. Just because she’s your sister, that doesn’t mean she can’t have fun. I mean I’m sure you two-”

“Please stop,” Kamden interrupted.

It was Mia’s turn to blush. As if she was on auto pilot, she found herself looking over Kamden’s body. Their group had been on beach trips but Kamden was still almost fully dressed even at the beach. For the first time, she found herself wondering what his body was like underneath all the dress shirts and ties.

 _No,_ she told herself. The status of his body was neither here nor there. Sure, he was attractive. Any idiot could see that. And sure, she did flirt with him a bit when they first met but it was like flirting with a big brick wall.

His parents disappeared into the growing group of people, greeting them and making small talk.

Kamden and Mia, meanwhile, were left by themselves and felt their lovey dovey masks fall. Kamden scooted away a few inches.

“What possible use could you have to see young pictures of me?”

Was he serious? Did he have no concept of blackmail? He must. He was a lawyer, after all.

“I was thinking an ad to play every hour in Times Square. Hopefully one with your tiny butt in the air.”

“You won’t find a picture like that.” He looked almost sad saying that but his tone quickly changed. “Besides, you don’t have the money for that. I’ve seen your apartment building. And advertising at Times Square is incredibly expensive.”

Mia rolled her eyes. Really? Did he have to bring up her crappy financial state ?

“That’s hardly the point. Where there’s a way, there’s a will.”

“You have the saying backwards. It’s actually-”

“Whatever.”

Before either of them could say anything else, Eileen waved them over and Kamden seemed to remember that he should be introducing her.

Kamden stood up and held out his hand for her. He had that cheesy smile on his face and asked, “Shall we do the rounds?”

Mia looked over the growing crowd of people. There were probably about fifteen people and more were walking in. She thought this family dinner night was going to be stiff and boring with people comparing their mortgages or retirement plans or something. But after meeting Bunny and Eileen, she wasn’t quite so sure anymore. Well, if the rest of the family was anything like them, maybe she could have some fun after all.

Cheered by the thought of conversing with other people, she put her hand in his. At least it didn’t feel quite as awkward as it did earlier. “Let’s.”

-

Mia had a system to match people’s names with their appearance but after family member number ten, she started to lose track. She met aunts and uncles, cousins, and second cousins.

Kamden steered Mia around the room again, and introduced her to another aunt and uncle, Lisa and Ned. They were warm and inviting and his uncle patted Kamden on the back for finding ‘such a lovely girl’.

The same was true when she was introduced to one of his cousins, Hannah.

“Ah. Mia. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“I’m David and Carrie’s daughter. I know it’s a bit much to keep track of everyone so if you ever need a reminder, I won’t be offended if you forget my name.”

“Thank you. It is a lot to take in.”

Hannah smiled. “I remember I was the same way when I met Chris’ family. He’s my husband. He’s hiding somewhere around here.” She glanced around the crowd of milling people but shook her head when she couldn’t find him. “I know he was looking for Jason earlier.”

Mia felt Kamden’s hand tighten around hers. “Jason’s here?”

Hannah glanced around the crowd again. “I think so. He’s supposed to be here this weekend. But never mind that. It’s so nice to meet you Mia.”

“You-”

“Hannah!” a voice called from across the room, paired with a small child’s cry that was quickly growing louder.

“We’ll chat more later. I should go check on Ethan. He tends to get into trouble when we’re not looking.” And before they could say anything else, Hannah was gone. It was back to being just Mia and Kamden.

“Okay. That is the seventh person to tell me how nice it is to meet me.”

“So?”

“Don’t you hear the way they say it? It’s like I’m some kind of endangered animal and they’re happy to see me before I go extinct. Do you ever bring girls to meet your family?”

“Of course I do.”

Mia crossed her arms. “When?”

“Just a year or two ago. There was a reunion when Hannah had her baby.”

Mia glanced across the room to see Hannah tending to a child who couldn’t be any younger than six. “You mean that baby?”

Kamden’s eyes followed her pointed finger and when they rested on the young boy, his eyes widened. “There’s no way Hannah’s kid is that old.” She watched as Kamden did mental calculations. “Maybe it has been a while.”

She couldn’t help herself. It was too easy. She pulled at his hand until his head was level with hers. She whispered through her teeth, “And all you had to do was bribe a girl to come with you. Congratulations. You’re single _and_ pathetic.”

Kamden leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t talk about that in public to minimize risk.” To anyone else, it would look like romantic whisperings between a happy couple so Mia forced herself to giggle. But after, she said quietly, “Fine. No talk about the arrangement.”

“Kamden! You made it.”

A tall, good looking man, who was probably only a few years older than Kamden approached them.

“Travis,” he greeted, a genuine warmth to his voice. “It’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you too. Haven’t seen you out for an event in ages. We miss you around here.”

“Unfortunately life keeps me rather busy.”

“And is this the woman I’ve been hearing about?”

“Nice to meet you,” she greeted. “I’m Mia.”

“This is Hannah’s brother, Travis. And yes, this is the girl you have heard about.”

“It’s an honour to meet a woman who finally meets Kamden’s high standards.”

“Really?” she asked. She couldn’t help but smile. Maybe this would finally be her first real opportunity for some great gossip. “Do tell.”

This was perfect. He couldn’t possibly intervene now without looking like he had something to hide.

“Kamden’s always had high standards. You must know that of him now. He’s never been much for dating. Didn’t often make it past one date. I blame that trip up to Maine,” he said, dramatically and slowly shaking his head.

“Trip to Maine?” she echoed.

“He hasn’t told you?” Travis’s eyes grew as if he was given an early Christmas present. “Allow me to tell you the story.”

“I think that’s enough for now,” Kamden interrupted. “I think we could do a little longer without Mia finding out about that. And that has nothing to do with anything.”

Travis’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. Be a spoilsport. Mia, escape from him later and I’ll tell you.”

Before anything else could be said about the mysterious Maine trip, the room burst into applause at the arrival of the bride and groom to be.

The two turned around to see the happy couple enter the restaurant. Bunny was beaming and waving at all of the family. Her fiancee, Matthew, was tall, dark haired, and clearly uncomfortable with all the attention. If Bunny noticed his unease, she didn’t allow him to feel it and pulled him into the fray right in their direction.

Mia was amazed at the way Bunny plowed through the crowd toward them. Surprisingly, Bunny practically ignored Kamden, almost body checking him out of the way. Her eyes were only for Mia.

“You look amazing!” Bunny said, fawning over Mia’s dress.

Mia, still slightly overwhelmed by Bunny’s energy, said, “Thank you. But so do you.” It wasn’t just empty flattery. Bunny wore a simple baby pink dress with spaghetti straps and a bubble hem. She looked amazing. Finding her center again, Mia continued. “I could never pull off a look like that. Pink never looked that good on me. And I can’t possibly upstage the bride.”

Bunny waved her hand dismissively. “Everyone should look and feel amazing at any fancy party. Just because it’s our wedding, doesn’t mean that everyone can’t look amazing.”

Her mood was infectious. Mia quickly found herself smiling and said, “That’s a really nice thought.”

“I’ve been waiting ages to talk to you.”

“Ages? Really? You don’t want to talk to your brother?” Mia noticed that Kamden was already in conversation with Matthew and she realized how rude of a fake girlfriend she was being. She directed her attention to Matthew and introduced herself. “I’m so sorry. I’m Mia. I take it you must be Matthew.”

He inclined his head. “I am. It’s nice to meet you. And don’t worry about the introductions. Buns can be a bit forward. It tends to throw people for a loop but she gets there eventually,” he said with a knowing smile.

“I’m just being friendly. It’s not every day my brother brings a girl home. I need to get to know her.”

“That would be nice,” she finally said. “But what about your family? I’m sure they want to see you too.”

She waved her hand again. “I’ll see them all weekend. But if I don’t get to know you now, then we can’t have as much fun this weekend together. So, tell me about you.” She side eyed Kamden. “Since we were interrupted last time.”

Everything Mia learned from the binder seemed to disappear from her brain. She imagined herself making conversation with people who were only half interested. She never imagined a literal ray of sunshine wanting to know every bit of her life. Bunny’s eyes were shining as she waited to take in every detail of Mia’s life.

Normally, Mia would be in her element but this was different. She prepped herself so much for the parents, but she barely prepared to meet Bunny. In fact, she never met a sibling of someone she dated, only parents.

She reminded herself that meeting his parents was a cake walk and that was only an hour ago. If she could do that, she could do this. She took a moment to compose herself and fix her great girlfriend mask. She reminded herself that this was like any audition. She just had to convince them that she was in love with Kamden. That’s it. And she already did that with his parents.

She slipped her hand back into Kamden’s and smiled so wide it made her teeth hurt. “Well, I’m 26 and I work as a receptionist downtown.”

“That sounds so exciting. What’s the company?”

“It’s a new recording studio. I can’t give too many details but we’ve been working for months to get everything together for our launch.”

“That’s so cool,” Bunny said, stars in her eyes. “Can you bring guests to the launch party? I would love to go. Matty, can we go?”

“Don’t put so much pressure on her,” Matthew replied as he wrapped an arm around Bunny’s shoulder. “She might not even be able to bring guests.” He looked back at Mia. “If you can bring guests, let us know. We would love to support you.”

Mia forced herself to keep smiling and wondered how hard it would be to crash a private party and pass it off as her own fictitious company. “Absolutely.” But she relaxed when she remembered she only had to keep this charade going for the weekend. It wasn’t as if she actually had to follow up on that promise. But with that relief came a wave of guilt. Bunny was such a sweetheart and was so excited to meet her brother’s girlfriend. Mia never thought about the fallout that would inevitably happen when Kamden would have to tell his family that the two “broke up”. But she couldn’t focus on that. She decided to change the subject.

“So, Matthew, I hear you’re a doctor?”

“That’s right,” he said a little awkwardly. It was if he wasn’t used to talking about himself. “I’ve been working in pediatrics for almost three years now.”

“He’s so great with the kids,” Bunny gushed. “It’s so sweet.”

Good. This was good. She could work with this. “That’s so nice. So was that field your first choice?”

“It was. I know what it’s like to be young and scared and I want to be able to help them.”

It was that moment that Mia remembered a note in the binder about Matthew, orphaned young due to a car accident. “Yes, Kam told me. I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you. Fortunately, Eileen and Ken have been extremely generous over the years. This has already felt like my family even before I proposed.”

“Fortunately for you, I let you date my little sister.”

Bunny smacked her brother’s shoulder. “As if you could have kept me away from him you jerk.”

Kamden took a sip of his drink. “I could have made him disappear somehow for daring to ask you out.”

“But you said you were okay with it.”

“I can rescind my approval at any time.”

Despite hearing Kamden’s joking nature close to a dozen times now, it was still weird.

“Speaking of family,” Matthew continued, “we should really say hello to the rest of yours.”

Bunny puffed out her cheeks. “Fine,” she agreed. She glared at Kamden and then turned to Mia. “But we’ll talk more later, okay?”

“Sure,” Mia said with a genuine smile on her face.

As Matthew steered Bunny away, she looked over her shoulder. “And I hope you like karaoke. We’ll have a machine set up tomorrow.”

“I love karaoke,” Mia said, the smile on her face growing. “I’ll keep things going.”

Bunny beamed. “Good.”

Mia’s smile faded as Bunny disappeared into a crowd of relatives and she realized it was just her and Kamden again.

“So,” she began, “tomorrow should be fun.”

“It will certainly be interesting.”

It was is in that moment that Mia remembered something and her head snapped to Kamden.

“You hate karaoke.”

Kamden looked down at her. A single eyebrow raised. “Yes. I do. So don’t get any ideas about me performing tomorrow.”

“No. That’s not it. You said before that karaoke was idiotic and had no point. You said that the night the rest of us went out for it. But you’re okay with your sister having it?”

Kamden pursed his lips and was clearly trying to backtrack. “Well, it’s my sister’s wedding weekend. Whatever she wants, she can have. And lots of people like karaoke. That’s fine.”

She gasped theatrically. “You’re a hypocrite is what you are.”

“Because I may have changed my mind?”

“Ha. You haven’t changed your mind. You’re just trying to cover your tracks. You have a special place for your sister, don’t you? You probably let her get away with anything.”

“I do not.”

“You do too!”

“Ah young love.”

The new voice made the two almost jump out of their skin. In all of the commotion, they seemed to have forgotten that they were supposed to be keeping up the air of a couple in love. They looked up and saw an elderly couple approaching. Did they know?

“I remember those days,” the man in the couple said. “Such fun days. Kamden, will you introduce us?”

Okay. Good. They didn’t figure it out.

“Of course. This is Mia. Mia, these are my grandparents on my mother’s side.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“And a pleasure to meet you,” his grandmother said. “We were always worried that Kamden would end up a lonely, bitter man but I’m glad to see he found someone who challenges him. Enjoy these years. For our last anniversary, I almost broke my hip during round four and then-”

“Grandma,” Kamden interrupted. “I don’t need to hear that.”

His grandmother smiled, patted his arm, and looked at Mia. “He’s always been a shy one. Open him up a little bit, won’t you dear?”

Mia was trying not to laugh. “I’ll do what I can,” she said between giggles.

“Good good,” she replied. “We’ll speak to you later. We should go congratulate the happy couple. Hopefully it won’t be too long before yours? We’re not getting any younger, you know?”

Before either of the younger two could get over their embarrassment, the grandparents walked away.

“Sorry about that,” Kamden said. “Grandma Beatrice can get a bit liberal when she has a few drinks. She must have already had a few.”

“It’s alright,” she responded. She smiled at Kamden and then promptly remembered that while they were together this weekend, they ordinarily did not get along. She looked away.

Before either of them could say anything else, everyone was summoned for dinner and sat between two long tables set up exclusive for the family.

The meal went by rather smoothly. They sat across from Bunny and Matthew, who were predictably taking up most of the conversation since everyone had questions ranging from their excitement about the wedding to when they would have kids.

Mia ended up talking with the girl who sat beside her. She couldn’t be older than sixteen and was rather quiet throughout it all. It turned out she was Kamden’s cousin and spent most of the meal pushing her food around on her plate.

“You can eat the food too, you know.”

The girl shrugged.

“What’s wrong? Do you think marriage is some kind of outdated trend that still represents women as property or something?”

She shrugged again.

Mia took a deep breath. So she was the uncommunicative kind of teen. “Seen any good movies lately?”

A raised eyebrow. At least that was new. She could work with new. “So what kind of movies do you like? Action? Romance? Drama?”

Another shrug. She looked over the girl, trying to get some kind of hint. Then she noticed a familiar bracelet that was a bit lolita in style. Mia smiled.

“So you’re a fan of Band-Maid?”

The girl’s eyes snapped to her. They were wide open. “You know Band-Maid? How? Nobody here knows them.”

Mia winked. “I enjoy the music scene.”

That did it. Mia barely had to prompt her anymore. The girl was named Victoria but preferred to go by Tori. And now that the floodgates were open, she was enthralled with Mia’s knowledge of the Japanese music scene.

“I think their whole image is just so cool.”

Mia looked her over. She wore a black and white dress with ruffled cap sleeves and had a blue flower pinned into her curled, dark hair. “I can tell,” she said with a knowing smile.

Tori actually blushed. “I'd like to be like them. Start a really cool, all girl band.”

“Just make sure to show yourself off too. If you just copy someone else’s look, you won’t stand out as much.”

Tori’s eyes widened. “Do you…work in the industry?” She looked over Mia. “You totally could. You look amazing.”

“Thank you,” she said with an indulgent smile. “And no. I don’t.” Then she remembered her fake job. “Well, sort of.” Mia was torn. She wanted to help this girl and tell her how hard it was to get in. But she also couldn’t blow her cover. So she decided for a half truth. “I tried. It’s damn hard.”

“So you gave up?” Her eyes dulled, as if Mia’s failure would dictate her future.

“I’m still trying. It just helped to have some regular income. I like to have some money to eat. And I work for a label, just not in a position where I make any kind of influence.”

“So I should keep trying?”

Mia smiled, pulling in all the encouragement she could muster. “Of course. What do you play?”

“Drums. But they’re at my friend’s place. It’s hard to practice at home when your parents hate the sound.”

She could see the sadness in Tori’s eyes, as much as she tried to hide it. Teenagers never were good at hiding their feelings. Not if you’re really looking.

“You know, Bunny said that there’s going to be karaoke tomorrow. How about you and I do one of their songs?”

“That would be amazing.” The smile on her face was the widest Mia saw it all night.

“Then it’s a date.”

Now that Tori was smiling, Mia figured she should be a bit more social again. When she turned, she saw Kamden was glancing in her direction.

Jarring slightly from the unexpected look, Mia said, “What?”

She thought she saw some kind of emotion pass over his face but before she could decipher it, it was gone. “Nothing,” he replied.

What was his problem? Was there something in her hair? On her face? Why was he looking at her like that?

Before Mia could pester him about it, Bunny stood up. “Alright. Since everyone’s finishing up, I wanted to make an announcement.” That certainly got people’s attention. From their looks, Mia wondered if Bunny going to announce that she was pregnant. “In a few minutes, they’re bringing out a build your own sundae bar and the DJ is just setting up.” In response to the strange glances, Bunny said with a wink, “Did you really think tonight was just going to be hanging out and visiting?”

Everyone laughed and Mia could see the shrugs of acceptance. As if on cue, a table was brought out of the back and, even from a distance, Mia could tell that there was a huge array of toppings. Sure enough, in the opposite corner, there was a DJ who was finishing his setup.

Her gaze came back to the table where Bunny was pushing away an empty plate and jumped up with yells of “I’m the bride so I get to go first!”

The family laughed again and soon enough, plates were discarded and everyone slowly made their way up to the sundae bar. Mia decided that she wouldn’t be far behind. Then she realized that she should really go up with Kamden since they didn’t talk much during dinner.

She turned awkwardly towards him. “So, are you all done with your dinner? Should we get a sundae together?”

His face was its usual stoicness and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing her hand.

Right. Girlfriend. Boyfriend. She should really boost the girlfriend appearance. Kamden couldn’t win the relationship game, after all.

She giggled as they walked. “Not that you need to be any sweeter.” He cast her a dubious look and she wondered if the giggle was too much. Oh well. But she should probably keep the conversation going as they walked. “How did you like the food?”

A look passed over his face again. It was almost amusement that showed through his stone facade. “It was delicious. It just lacked Bunny’s taste, which I found odd. Now I see that Matthew was in charge of the food and Bunny was in charge of dessert.”

Mia laughed. “I can see that.”

As they approached the sundae bar, Mia’s jaw dropped. She thought there was a lot from a distance but the spread seemed to get larger as she got to the table. The table started with the basic vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream, but there was where the basic things stopped. There were bowls of fruit from mangoes, to peaches, to at least five different kinds of berries. There was a huge section with hard and chewy candy. There was a pile of freshly cooked waffle cones. There were three different bowls of nuts, a large bowl of marshmallows, seven different sauces, cans of whipped cream, and at the end of the table was a huge bowl of rainbow sprinkles.

Mia paused, unsure of where to even start. All she could say was, “Wow. You sister sure likes sweets.”

“You should have seen her demands for her sixth birthday. She requested at least twice this amount just for herself.”

Mia saw Bunny walking back to the table. Her dessert was built at least twice as high as the bowl.

Her vision was directed back to the sundae table, however, because the line moved and she was within reach of a bowl. There were so many options and she had to make decisions quickly.

Okay. Vanilla ice cream. That was versatile. She topped that with strawberries and mangoes, popped on a few marshmallows, and drizzled on a generous amount of hot fudge before squeezing a bit of whipped cream and topped it with a spoonful of sprinkles. She was smiling as she built her sundae. She felt like a kid again. At the last moment, she reached back and spooned on a few gummy bears.

When she did so, she caught sight of Kamden’s bowl.

“Whoa. Since when are you such a sweet tooth?”

Her eyes were huge for a reason. He opted for chocolate ice cream, with a ton of nuts, and it was covered in caramel.

He raised an eyebrow. “I’m not allowed to like sweets?”

“You never eat anything that indulgent.”

“And?”

“Why now?

“Just because you don’t see me eat something, doesn’t mean I don’t eat it. I did grow up with Bunny, after all.”

Mia was left dumbstruck as he walked away. When she recovered, she followed him, determined to have the last word and how he was a vanilla ice cream with no toppings kind of guy. When she got close enough to retort, however, was when the DJ started the first song of the night. Fine. She could poke and prod at him later. Instead, she sat down next to Kamden and picked up where she left off with the loving girlfriend act. She fawned over his choice and asked to sneak a taste, which he, thankfully, passed on. She didn’t want to eat from his spoon.

“You should have taken what you wanted instead of taking mine.” It was strange. Normally a sentence like that would sound judgey but he managed to make it sound sort of cute and teasing. He was a better actor than she anticipated. But she wouldn’t let him discount her just yet.

She sidled up closer to him. “Kammyyyyy,” she began loudly, “the ice cream is making me cold.”

He cast her a look that she was sure was disdain. Good. But the disdain passed quickly and he put his arm around her shoulders. Not to be outdone, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Kammy?”

She giggled as if he said something sweet and whispered back, “Just acting the part.”

He gave her a challenging glare and pulled her tighter to him.

Being so close to him was weird. She didn’t fit nicely under his arm like a good couple should. Her head was at the wrong angle to be comfortable and she could have sworn he was digging his arm into her side on purpose. She definitely couldn’t let him win.

She saw Bunny out on the dance floor and smiled. “Kammy, let’s dance.” His challenging glare turned into a look of disbelief. Apparently even in his imagination, she wouldn’t try to embarrass him like this.

“I haven’t finished my ice cream,” he said.

“Then finish it quickly.” She crossed her arms dramatically and gulped the last spoonful of her ice cream.

She glared at him as he ate smaller and smaller spoonfuls. Her foot was tapping along with the beat of…was that Spice Girls?

“Fine. Be boring,” she finally said when he put an almost empty spoon in his mouth. “I’m going to dance.”

He gestured as if to say ‘be my guest’ and looked back at his ice cream.

Mia stood up and walked to the dance floor. He would probably keep up that act all night and find other ways to avoid dancing. Whatever. He probably didn’t have any rhythm or anything anyways. Besides, just because she was acting as his girlfriend, that didn’t mean she had to stay by his side all weekend. And there were other people on the dance floor she could have fun with, even if those people were just Bunny, her mom, Travis, a slightly reluctant looking Matthew, and an uncle she met earlier, Nick, if she remembered correctly.

Bunny was thrilled when Mia stepped onto the dance floor. She let out a cheer and grabbed Mia with her free hand to twirl her.

“Now get that brother of mine out here,” Bunny called out as Shut Up and Dance started playing.

Mia rolled her eyes in a way that she hoped was endearing. “I wish. I’ve never been able to get him out to dance.”

Sure enough, when she looked back, Kamden was chatting with the older generation. Was he actually enjoying himself staying on the sidelines?

Bunny followed her gaze. She puffed her cheeks, put her hands on her hips, and marched over to him. Mia watched her as she tugged on Kamden’s wrist and yelled something over the music. He sighed, stood up, and she dragged him onto the dance floor.

Mia could hardly believe her eyes. She grinned wide in amazement as Bunny planted him on the dance floor (particularly impressive since he was well over a foot taller than her) and he actually, sort of, danced.

It was really just stepping back and forth and he didn’t really know what to do with his arms so they just hung limply at his sides.

If only Mia’s phone wasn’t back at the table. This would have been great to record. But if she dashed for her phone, he would immediately stop. She would just have to embed this in her brain forever.

He was so stiff when he danced. It was kind of awkward to watch. She sidled up next to him and yelled in his ear, “Do you ever dance?” He just glared at her. “What got you up here?” He glared again. Did the man have any other expressions other than disdainful glare?

Instead, she grabbed his hand and twirled him the best she could despite their height difference. He definitely did not look impressed.

Travis cheered him on and Mia couldn’t help but join in. As the song faded into Bad Romance, Mia smiled. Then she remembered what Kamden said in the car about top 40 pop songs. So Mia put extra energy into her dancing. When Kamden seemed to get less energized, she leaned towards him.

“It’s Lady Gaga!! How can you not be excited about this?!” Another angry glare. Mia rolled her eyes. “Let loose. Have some fun.” To emphasize her point, she danced a little harder and sang along.

It was entertaining watching him be so uncomfortable and she promised herself that she would remember this. Besides, it wasn’t as if he could outwardly fight back. She grinned and continued singing along. She even did a little air guitar just to bug him.

The song faded into another again and Mia winked at him. Halfway into the next song, she saw Tori, alone, still sitting at the table, nursing her sundae. Frowning slightly, Mia walked back to the table.

“You like music. Get out here with us.”

Tori seemed to get surprisingly self-conscious. She shook her head saying no and looking back at her ice cream. “I can only dance when I’m playing.”

Mia noticed that Tori’s fingers were unconsciously tapping along with the song. “If you’re feeling at all embarrassed, let me know and I’ll dance more ridiculous to take the focus off.”

Tori smiled, still a bit unsure, but she put down her spoon. “Okay.”

Mia beamed and grabbed her hand before she could change her mind. Tori’s movements were a bit stiff but she loosened up and Mia made sure to be a bit more dramatic, just in case.

She also noticed that Kamden was just sitting at the table, talking with one of his uncles. But less than a song later, Bunny confronted him again. Unfortunately, he was more resistant this time. She puffed out her cheeks as she stomped back to the dance floor so Mia grabbed her hand and gave her a twirl. It immediately cheered Bunny up.

Mia looked over the group on the dance floor. Bunny danced back to Matthew, Eileen was bobbing along, Travis stepped off the dance floor to convince Kamden back to the floor, Hannah had Ethan perched on her feet to dance, and Tori was getting more and more relaxed. She would need to request a Band Maid song soon to keep her going. She thought again how she assumed this weekend was going to be filled with boring get togethers and pointless small talk. But this? This she could have fun with.

-

“Can we please take the elevator?” Mia asked between limps.

Kamden rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

It was three and a half hours later and Mia danced until she couldn’t stand anymore. Bunny occasionally dragged Kamden back to the dance floor but he would disappear again a few songs later.

“Did it really kill you to dance? You could have stayed up there longer. It was fun.”

He beat her to the elevator (no surprise there) and pushed the button. “I don’t dance. Not like that” He eyed the four inch heels she was wearing with a skeptical eye. “And it looks like you should have danced less too. Why would you even wear such impractical shoes?”

“They’re not impractical. I live in heels. I just didn’t get a chance to wear these in yet.”

“If they hurt, they’re impractical.”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“Easy for you to say,” Mia said as she walked into the elevator, Kamden close behind. She pressed “2” and the doors slid closed. “Guys get all the breaks. Sensible shoes, pockets, comfortable clothes.”

Before he could retort, the elevator shuddered and stopped to a grinding halt.


	3. Chapter 3

Shit. Shit. Triple shit. Mia glanced around, as if her ears lied to her. The elevator couldn’t have broken down. She could _not_ be trapped in an elevator with Kamden. Could they pry the doors open and hope they were against another set of doors to get out? She glanced up. Could one of them climb out the escape hatch to get to the next floor?

Kamden, who she hadn’t paid attention to, stepped forward, pressed the emergency call button and lifted the receiver.

Right. Emergency call. Of course there would be that option. This was a fairly isolated area. The handyman probably lived in the area. They would be out of here in no time.

Mia listened as he answered the generic questions. While he spoke with the emergency help, she still formulated other ways to get out.

“Alright. Thank you.” Kamden hung up the phone and sighed. “You had to wear those shoes,” he said glancing at her accusingly out of the side of his eyes.

“What? How long will it be?”

“They figure at least two hours.”

Mia’s eyes popped. “Two hours?!” She fell back against the wall. “But they always overestimate, right? So the people stuck won’t be waiting as long they think.”

“Their headquarters are over an hour away. They only have one repair team on and they’re still working on a call in the opposite direction.

“Way to rain on my parade.”

“I’m being realistic,” he retorted, a little harsher than she expected.

Mia raised her hands defensively. “Fine. Just trying to stay positive in a shitty situation.”

“Well, you don’t have to be positive all the time.”

She wanted to retort but it was that moment that the electricity went out and the emergency lights went on.

She groaned and the fight in her faded.

“Might as well get comfortable,” she said as she slid to the floor. She pulled off a shoe and started massaging her sore arch. Kamden, however, was still standing perfectly straight. She raised her eyebrows but he couldn’t see. Instead, he chose to face the control pad. _Riveting,_ she thought as she rolled her eyes.

She looked back down at her foot. Well, more particularly, the back of her ankle, which was now missing a couple layers of skin. Stupid shoes. Maybe they were a bit too much for tonight, not that she would tell Kamden that.

It was utterly silent in their little prison and Mia could start to hear the ringing in her ears after all the dancing. And…what was that other noise?

She looked around, trying to locate it but the ringing in her ears from the music made it harder than usual. Then she realized Kamden’s breathing was in sync with it. She could see his shoulders move and realized it was his breathing. It sounded almost…rattled.

“You okay?”

His heavy breathing stopped. “Fine.”

She narrowed her eyes. What was going on? Why was he acting weirder than usual?

Her eyes widened and she pointed dramatically at him, although he still wasn’t looking at her. “You’re claustrophobic!”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“No it’s not. It’s why you’re freaking out-”

“I am not freaking out.”

“Yes you are. It’s why you won’t look around, it’s why you’re breathing so weird. You’re absolutely freaking out.”

Her accusations seemed to stress him and he turned to face her, his tone somewhere between angry and sarcastic. “Fine. I’m not a fan of small spaces. Happy?”

Mia grinned and pulled out her phone. “Ecstatic. I needed some good blackmail material.”

He raised an eyebrow. Why did the man have so few expressions? “Blackmail?”

She pulled up the camera app. “Just in case I need to embarrass you in the future. Maybe I can pair this with the baby butt picture.” Once she finished speaking, she hit record.

Kamden said nothing. Instead, he looked away again and, in the place of the ragged breathing, was deep, calm breaths. After a minute or so of nothing else happening, she hit stop.

“You can look back now. I’m not recording anymore.”

He glanced over his shoulder to confirm but still turned back to the wall.

“So why small spaces? It’s not like they can hurt you.” He answered with silence. “Fine. I was just trying to help.” Still he was silent.

She picked up her phone again, figuring that maybe Rayna was still up and she could at least text with her. No signal. Damn. She put it back down and realized she was still wearing one shoe. She removed it and massaged her soon to be blistered foot. Once the immediate ache faded, she stretched it back out and flexed her toes.

What now? It was clear that Kamden wasn’t feeling chatty, she couldn’t call or text anyone, and she didn’t think Kamden would appreciate some music to pass the time. Nope. He just wanted silence and boredom. Like always. Even when he was definitely freaked out, he didn’t want to distract himself from it. He wanted to drown himself in it.

Mia started flipping through the apps on her phone. Photos. Well, she didn’t need a signal for that. She smiled at the memories the photos brought back. There was her dinner date with that guy who took her out for Kobe beef. He really wanted to impress her but he was lukewarm at best. He was way too into himself. Still, the food was amazing and she promised the picture of perfectly presented beef that she would have it again. There was a picture from her night out doing karaoke with some of her old college friends. It was a fun night. They all had a bit too much to drink and they stayed almost an hour later than they intended to because they just had to perform every one of their favourite Celine Dion song.

Then she came across pictures from the beach. It was one of the rare days that they all had off together and since it had been the start of summer, the beach was the clear choice. She creamed Maggie and Jaden in two against one volleyball before burying Noah in sand and turning him into a mermaid. Mia drew on an exaggerated eight pack, gave him huge boobs, and told him that he had the perfect hair to be a mermaid. 

Then there was Kamden in the background of at least three photos. He sat in a beach chair, sunglasses on and his face buried in a book and being his usual snobby self. Probably so he could show her up again.

“Do you ever have fun?” The words were out of her mouth before she could think them through. But judging by the way he turned to look at her, she got his attention.

“What?”

“You heard me. Fun. Do you ever engage in activities that are entertaining or enjoyable?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“This,” she said, brandishing her phone from her place on the floor. “We have a fun day out and you just sat there reading all day.”

He leaned down to look at her phone without touching it. It was as if he was afraid of developing allergies if he touched the flowery case.

“I remember that day.” He stood back up. “You wanted everyone to take ridiculous photos and play frisbee.”

“Yeah,” Mia said obviously, as if he said that 2+2=4. “Because it’s fun.”

Kamden pursed his lips. “Fun for who?”

Where was he going with this? She frowned. “For everyone. But you just wanted to be anti-social and pretentious."

Kamden made a sound in his throat that sounded like “ugh”.

“What was that for?”

“Just because you find something fun, that doesn’t mean it’s what would be best for everyone.”

What? Who didn’t enjoy frisbee and the beach? “And I guess you’re the expert on that?”

“For myself? Yes.”

“I didn’t hear anyone else complaining about having fun. I guess you’re just boring that way.”

Kamden’s face was getting red. “Did you ever consider in that tiny brain of yours-”

“Tiny brain? So you’re calling me dumb now?”

“Stop interrupting me.”

“What?”

“Interrupting me. You do it constantly and I’m sick of it.”

“I do not.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you that unaware of it?”

“I am not because I don’t do that.”

“Are you joking? Every time I try to explain my point in a discussion, you cut me off before I can finish.”

“Maybe if everything out of your mouth wasn’t a direct attack on me, I would be more inclined to listen.”

“So you admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“That you interrupt me.”

“I never said that.”

“You just-” he groaned, running a hand through his hair. “You just admitted to cutting me off so I don’t insult you.”

“But that’s only when I can tell you’re about to insult me.”

“When do I insult you?”

Mia gaped again. “Are _you_ that blind? You do it constantly.” He remained silent, inviting her to continue. “Every time we talk about anything, you find a way to insult me. Like that time Rayna started talking about unplanned pregnancies and you said that girls who go clubbing deserve what they get.”

“I did not say that.”

“You were about to. You should that women should be modest and demure or some shit like that.”

“That’s what you got out of it?”

“Of course!”

Kamden took a deep breath. “Well, if you had let me finish, you would have heard me say that those women should always make sure to have protection since the jackasses who prowl those places don’t bother.”

Mia deflated slightly and her voice softened. “Oh. Well, you could just be saying that now.”

“I’m not. Do you even know what kind of cases I take on as a lawyer?”

His voice softened again. It must be a trap. “Don’t know, don’t care,” she said, crossing her arms and looking away.

“Well then maybe you should pay attention to things like that instead of all the frivolous shit you look at on your phone.”

“Excuse me?” she retorted, pulling herself to her feet. “How would you even know what I do on my phone?”

“Instagram and shallow celebrity gossip. Am I wrong?”

“Oh please. You think you have me all figured out. Yes, I look at Instagram. Yes I read up on celebrity news. But not for that shallow shit. I read it because it’s the industry I’m trying to get into. Knowing the projects and trends that are happening are important for me to get my big break. You know what else I do on my phone? I read books, I message friends who live far away, I read the news. Don’t you dare just peg me as a shallow blond, you arrogant jerk!”

“Arrogant jerk?”

“Yes. You think you’re a heavenly gift to all of us and more important than the rest of us lowly mortals.”

“At least I don’t want to be famous just so I can get attention.”

“Don’t you dare assume that you know me. You have no idea about my life.”

“But it’s fine for you to assume everything about me?”

“Maybe if you knew anything about being lonely, you wouldn’t attack people.”

Kamden paused and they simply stared at each other. Despite Mia willing herself not to, tears started forming in her eyes. Shit. She tried to blink them away. This hadn’t happened in years. She always tried so hard not to think about that part of her life. Instead, she tried to parry the tears with more fight.

“You know, you’ll regret it. One day, you’re going to look at all these missed opportunities and regret not taking advantage of them. You’ll be old and your hips won’t work anymore and you won’t even be able to _catch_ a frisbee. You have all of these people who care about you. These people want you to be involved and to have fun. Even Rayna likes you and I don’t know if you noticed but Rayna doesn’t like a lot of people.”

Finally, Mia noticed that his face lost the look of fight. “I’ve noticed.”

Kamden looked at her, really looked at her. There was a surprisingly interested look on his face but Mia didn’t notice. She tried to keep the fight going but the tears overwhelmed her.

“It’s not fun being by yourself. No one _enjoys_ being by themselves.”

She turned and sat back down, firmly facing the wall. Partially it was to annoy him, partially so she could wipe the tears away without him noticing. But he definitely noticed long before she turned away.

They sat in silence like that for some time before Kamden asked, “How long?”

Her tears were mostly dry now but she pretended she didn’t hear.

He sighed. “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding.”

Mia looked over her shoulder at him. “What?”

“About the details of you that I gave my parents. They weren’t meant to undermine you.” Mia gaped at him but stayed silent, and he continued. “I told my parents about this fictitious woman before this arrangement was ever a possibility. I did not make up those details with you or anyone else in mind. Receptionist was a simple, respectable job that didn’t invite a lot of questions, other than where you work. And I didn’t tell my mother a company because she would try to find out more information and potentially stalk a complete stranger. As for the wine and art, my parents have no knowledge of that world. They wouldn’t have many questions on it and it wouldn’t be hard to make up things on the spot to keep them going.”

She looked back at her feet. Was he being nice? “You could have told me, you know.”

“I tried to tell you before we met up with my parents. But you…interrupted me.” It was strange. His tone wasn’t accusatory. It almost sounded defeated.

Mia looked at her feet. She thought back to their arguments. It was as if she saw them more clearly. She did interrupt him a lot. But she wasn’t ready to admit it so she shrugged. She wasn’t quite ready for a friendly discussion with someone she just had a shouting match with.

“Almost two years,” he said, breaking the silence.

She looked back over her shoulder. His face was surprisingly open and honest. She had never really seen him like that before.

Curiousity got the better of her and before she could hesitate, she asked, “What was almost two years?

“Bullying,” he said.

“You were bullied?” She turned halfway to him, interested to hear more.

It was a strange image. He had at least six inches on her. She always just figured he was on the taller side. The thought of him being pushed around was almost too ridiculous to contemplate.

“Yeah. Being adopted makes good fuel for bullies.”

Mia scrunched her brow and turned to fully face him. “You’re adopted?” He nodded. “How did I not know that?”

“I suppose our conversations don’t usually get that personal.”

“That’s true. But it’s a stupid reason to bully someone.”

It was Kamden’s turn to let a bit of a smile loose. “That’s what Bunny used to say to them.”

“Wait,” she said, her brows pushed together. “Your sister stood up to your bullies?”

“She did.” He smiled a bit wider as he remembered. “In hindsight, it was actually quite amusing watching a seven year old stand up to eleven year olds. She told them that being adopted meant I was loved even more and that I was the bestest big brother in the world so they should just leave me alone.” He paused, as if taking a moment to relish the memory. “They never did anything to her, of course. And she couldn’t be around all the time.”

Mia didn’t realize that her hand flew to her chest. Kids were so stupid and mean. She was overwhelmed by the mental image of how she imagined an eleven year old Kamden to look, knocked down, a scrape on his knee. Despite all the negativity between them, she felt bad for him. And somehow, his personality, his demeanor, made a little more sense to her. He didn’t prefer the quiet and the alone. He chose it so he wouldn’t be disappointed again.

It was a long moment of silence before Mia realized she hadn’t spoken. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It was a long time ago but thank you.” His eyes and smile were soft and she found herself, oddly enough, wanting to defend him.

“It doesn’t matter if it was a long time ago. That shit stays with you, no matter how old you get.”

He looked directly at her, his whole body faced her now. “Is that why you tried so hard to engage with Tori?”

She looked down. It was hard to look directly at him when she talked about it. “It’s hard being on the outside.” She paused and fiddled with the hem of her dress. “I’ve always been a bit sporty. That meant that the girls didn’t want me around because I should go play sports with the boys. But I was still a girl. And I had long hair and liked dresses so the boys didn’t want me around. I was too girly. And so I was between them both until junior high. I was nine when it started.”

“I didn’t know you were that sporty.”

“Yeah, well, like you said, it’s not like we ever get that personal.” She paused and looked up at him. “Didn’t you ever wonder why I love volleyball?”

“Didn’t you ever wonder why I enjoy reading?”

Mia blushed and looked away. “Sorry about that.”

He crouched to a knee in front of her. “It’s alright. I’ve made some harsh accusations too. This,” he gestured to the space between them, “…I misjudged you. I apologize for that. I always thought you were…” he trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what was on his mind.

But she understood. “And I just thought you were some kind of no fun, pretentious jerk. Let’s call it even.” Mia gestured to the floor. “The repairmen aren’t going to come any faster just because you’re standing. Sit down. A watched door will never boil.”

“Pot,” he said. “It’s a watched pot. Not door.”

Normally she would have gotten defensive and told him that she could say it however she wanted but in light of their openness, she decided against it.

“Tomato potato,” she said, and they both smiled.

He sat against the wall adjacent to her. “I guess I should thank you as well.”

“For what?”

“For a few minutes there, I forgot about the fact that we’re trapped in an elevator.”

They both laughed lightly but Mia noticed how his breathing increased.

“Then how about I find a way to take your mind off of it again?”

Kam tilted his head half an inch to the side, wary but curious. “What did you have in mind?”

-

“Is it the buttons on the elevator?”

“Nope,” she said with a smile.

“Is it the blackness we’re sitting in?”

She laughed. “Nope. But good try.”

Was it her imagination or were they sitting a bit closer? They were still sitting against adjacent walls but it seemed like they each moved a little closer as they tried to see what the other person was seeing to better guess. His eye twitched toward her foot as she bent and flexed it.

“Is it the blisters on your foot?”

“Damn. That’s right,” she said, scrunching her nose. “Okay, your turn.”

He tilted his head back until it hit the wall. “I don’t think there’s anything in this room left to spy.”

“You just have to be creative.”

He shrugged. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Okay. New game then. How about association?”

He lifted his head again. “What’s that?”

“You don’t know it? Didn’t you ever-” she stopped and bit her tongue. She was going to tease him about not having any fun as a kid. “-play it?” He shook his head. “Okay. Well, we pick a category and say words but the last letter of the word I say has to be the first letter in the word you say. And it circles like that.”

He cupped his face. “Sure.”

“Okay for categories, let’s start with something easy. Animals! I’ll start. Cat.”

“Tortoise.”

“Elephant.”

“Tarantula.”

“Ew. Ant.”

Kamden paused. “Are you purposely giving me all letter T words?”

Mia looked up at the ceiling, a little too innocent. “Of course not. I’m just saying the first animal that pops into my head. I didn’t even notice the last letter.”

“Well, I’m still going to contest it. An ant isn’t an animal. It’s an insect.”

Her eyes whipped around to stare him down. “If you’re going by that logic, neither is a tarantula.”

“Of course it is.”

“You can’t include tarantula but not include ant.”

“Alright. How about a compromise. Anything that can move of its own free will is allowed. Fair?”

Mia narrowed her eyes teasingly. “Fair. Ant.”

He gently pursed his lips before saying, “Tiger.”

“Rat,” she said smiling.

He raised his eyebrows, as if to challenge her. “Turkey.”

Mia chewed on her lip and twirled a piece of hair around her finger. She racked her brain trying to think of something but all she could think of was the word yellow.

“Time’s ticking,” he said.

“You said you never played. How would you know if there’s a time limit?”

“All games have a time limit. You can’t spend hours on a question.”

She rolled her eyes. “It hasn’t been hours. It hasn’t even been a minute yet. Now stop distracting me.”

It was strange, sitting with him like this. While one part of her brain still repeated all the annoying things he did over the last few years, another part of her brain was rationalizing every reaction, every argument they ever had. He was looking at her intently but she stared down at her legs. The look on his face was different than how he looked at her before. He always seemed to regard her with a hint of disdain but now, here they were in an elevator together playing games. And they were genuinely having fun. At least, he seemed to be.

His face was much more relaxed than she usually saw it. Really, she only saw it when they were hanging out as a group and he wasn’t talking to her at all.

“You,” she finally said.

“What?”

“You. That’s my answer.”

“That doesn’t count.”

“Of course it does. Humans are part of the animal kingdom. And we said anything that moves of its own free will. So ‘you’ is a perfectly acceptable answer.

His lips turned up. “Urchin.”

-

“You can’t sit over there and see what I’m writing,” she argued. “You have to sit closer.”

“I don’t see why I’m the one who has to move.”

“Because I’m already comfortable. Now scoot over here.” She was lying, of course. Her butt fell asleep ages ago against the tile ground but she didn’t want to admit defeat.

He obliged and scooted to be next to her.

“How do you even intend to play hangman? Do you have wads of paper in there?” he asked, nodding to her purse.

“Close,” she said. Before he could make any guesses, she pulled out a wad of napkins. He raised his eyebrows and in retaliation she said, “I don’t always use them all when I go out to eat and it’s a shame to just throw them away.”

He grabbed the wad. “Fine. But I’m going first. Do you have a pen?”

She pulled out a pen with a flourish and presented it to him. It was covered in a bumblebee print and a single bee dangled from the top. She waited for the insult but it didn’t come. Instead, he thought for a moment before he pressed the napkin against his leg and wrote five dashes.

“A.”

“Nope.” He drew a head.

“E.”

He wrote in an E as the last letter.

“R.”

He gave a small, approving nod as he wrote in the R as the first letter.

“S.”

He drew a line out of the head.

“T.”

He drew an arm.

“I.”

He drew another arm.

She pouted and stared at the napkin. R_ _ _ E

“O.”

He wrote in an O after the R.

“P.”

He drew a leg.

Damn. What else could it be? She couldn’t lose now. She kept staring at it, hoping the missing two letters would magically appear.

R O _ _ E

She narrowed her eyes in concentration, looked up at him, and with all the seriousness she could muster, she said, “B.”

“Wrong,” he said with equal seriousness and drew the final leg. He looked back at her. “What did you think it was with the letter b?”

She shrugged. “Played a hunch. Thought I would figure it out. Apparently not. What was the word?”

“Rogue.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Fine. Take your cheap win. Now hand over the napkins.”

He relinquished the wad and pen and she tapped the pen on her chin. She raised it in a flourish, flattened the napkin against her leg and wrote nine dashes.

“Trying to challenge me?”

She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“Very well. R.”

She smirked as she drew a head.

“E”

_ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _

“H”

She smiled a little wider as she drew a torso.

“M?”

Her smile turned into a pout and she filled it in.

M _ _ _ E _ _ _ M

“A.”

Her smirk came back and she drew an arm. As he thought, she added a face and fingers.

“L?”

M _ L L E _ _ _ M

“I,” he said with a self-satisfied smirk.

M I L L E _ I _ M

Her pout became more pronounced. But Kamden wasn’t looking as pompous as she thought he would look.

“Is it millennium?”

She filled in the n and u and glared at him. “Fine. Take the win.”

He raised an eyebrow and pointed at the word. “You spelled it wrong.”

“What? No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did. It should have two n’s. Not one.”

“No. It has one n. I’ll prove it.” She pulled out her phone and as she opened it, she saw the icon indicating that she still didn’t have any service. “Right. We’ll settle that later then.” She paused as she slipped her phone back in her purse. “Tic tac toe?”

-

“YES! That’s four games for me, two for you,” she exclaimed, drawing a line through her three O’s.

Kamden let out a low laugh. “I think you can claim the tic-tac-toe championship for now. I’m a little gamed out.”

She shrugged. “Okay. What now?”

“I don’t know.” He looked at his watch. It was almost 1am. “It’s been an hour and a half since we called for help. Hopefully they’re coming soon.”

He glanced around the tiny elevator and Mia could see his breaths come faster. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Mia twisted a napkin in her hand, trying to get up the courage to ask. His breaths slowed again. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light ages ago and she could easily make out his face.

He was surprisingly calm. A few stray hairs hung over his face and she was tempted to move them from his face. She ignored it and looked away. He had a small scar on his jawline that she never noticed. She wondered where it was from.

Then he opened his eyes.

Mia blushed profusely and looked away.

“Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He smiled gently. “I am. Thank you.”

Mia’s cheeks flushed for reasons she wasn’t quite sure of. “You’re welcome,” she said softly.

“No, really. I appreciate it. I would not have done well if you weren’t here.”

“If I wasn’t here, you would have taken the stairs,” she said with a teasing smile.

“Well, that’s true,” he said, returning her smile. “You didn’t have to take my mind off it. But you did. If you weren’t here, I would be staring at the wall, trying to tell myself that the room wasn’t as small as I thought.”

“So…why small spaces?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure you’re expecting some kind of elaborate story about how I got locked in a closet for days but the truth is, it’s not a particular event. I’ve just never liked them. I prefer a large space, where I can at least stretch out my arms without hitting a wall.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

The air seemed to grow still. It was as if time stopped and she was suddenly very aware of how close they were sitting. She looked up at him and he was staring right back.

A loud bang interrupted her thoughts and Mia jumped. There was a crack of light coming in from the top of the doors. They were opening.

She jumped, blushing slightly. She looked out the corner of her eyes to see if he noticed, but Kamden was looking away.

More and more light filled the tiny space and as Mia’s eyes adjusted, she saw the workers as they pulled open the last few inches.

“You two okay in there?” one of the workers asked.

“Yes,” Kamden said a little too quickly. “Just a little shaken up.”

“Good. Do you need some help getting out?”

Mia looked at the step. They were only three feet short of arriving on their floor.

“Should be okay,” Mia said. “I can hop that.” She looked over at Kamden. “You first.”

He smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

She followed, after throwing her heels and purse over the step. Surprisingly, Kamden offered her a hand when she got up to her feet.

“Thank you,” Kamden said to the workers. We appreciate the help.”

“Yes,” Mia continued. “We’re very grateful.”

“Not a problem,” the first one said. “Keeps us in business. Hopefully you found a way to entertain yourselves in there.”

Mia inadvertently blushed but she tried to force it away. “We did. Thank you again. We should let you get to work.”

They all traded goodbyes and Kamden and Mia walked down the hall. It was quiet. And bright. And a bit surreal. Did everything in that elevator actually happen?

Kamden swiped the key card and gestured for her to go in first. She did, head bowed slightly.

“Thank you again,” he said, closing the door. “I know we got off to a bit of a rocky start there. But…it was…entertaining.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two were quiet again as they walked deeper into their room. Their eyes fell on the bed at the exact same time and laughed.

“I suppose we never did solve the bed situation.”

“You take the bed,” she said. “It’s my fault we got stuck in the elevator. And after all the stress, you could probably use a good night sleep.”

“I couldn’t-”

“It’s fine,” she said, waving him off. “Really. I can sleep anywhere. And it’s not as if the couch looks uncomfortable.”

Kamden smiled. “If you insist. I’m just going to use the bathroom first.”

“Of course. I’ll probably be a little longer than you anyways.”

He sidled past her awkwardly, grabbing a toiletry bag from his open suitcase along the way.

When the door closed, Mia was left to her own devices but wasn’t sure what to do. She could get changed but she wasn’t sure how long Kamden would be and she didn’t want him to walk out of the bathroom when she was mid changing. She could fix her hair but then she realized her brush was in the bathroom. Instead of doing anything productive, she ended up walking back and forth from her suitcase.

The door opened again and he emerged. His tie was pulled out of its knot and the top buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned.

“I realized that I didn’t exactly bring anything to sleep in,” he said.

“Oh. Well, I guess you could just…be in bed by the time I come back out.”

“Yes,” he said tentatively. “That’s a good idea.” He paused again before saying, “Well, it’s all yours. I’ll just…”

“Yes. Sure.” What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she acting like some kind of awkward teenager? “I’ll just-do my thing then.”

They slid past each other, saying goodnight as they went.

She breathed again when she closed the bathroom door. What was going on with her? Why was she having so much difficulty speaking?

She tried to put out of her mind as she got ready for bed. She pulled out her wipes and cleaned away the makeup but the intrusive thoughts wouldn’t go away. She pulled out her toothbrush and as she brushed, she thought about the situation. They had been through something really weird together.

By the time she rubbed her face clean with her pomegranate wash, she came to her conclusion. This was just them figuring out how to not yell at each other. The elevator was like some kind of bubble that existed outside of reality. They just needed to adjust to the not yelling.

She stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her pajamas, which she thanked her past self for thinking to bring. Admittedly, it was a tank top and booty shorts so it didn’t cover much but it was better than nothing. She slipped them on and tucked away her dress.

When she walked back in to their main area, Kamden was in bed. Was he asleep? She thought about asking but decided not to disturb him. It had been a busy day, after all.

She tiptoed through the dark toward the couch. As her eyes adjusted to the low light of the room, she realized that he made up the couch for her. Not just a couple blankets tossed unceremoniously. No. It was made up with a sheet tucked into the cushions and two blankets folded so nicely that she wondered if he got housekeeping to come up to the room in the time she was gone. The blankets were folded back, inviting her in.

She smiled at Kamden, wondering again if he was asleep and then climbed in between the blankets. She whispered “Good night”, knowing that he wouldn’t hear her even if he was awake and quickly drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so before I begin, I just have to positively gush about the art piece in this chapter. I got a commission done from the amazingly talented Katchevio. You can find her on tumblr at versailles-fairytale to see more of her work and/or to get a commission done, which I would highly recommend. This piece blew me out of the water and I just can't stop looking at it because she captured the moment so perfectly. Go commission her! You will not be disappointed.

The sunlight was what woke Mia the next morning. She stretched and, when her arms hit the side of the couch, she remembered that she was not sleeping in a bed. It wasn’t bad though. The couch was actually really comfortable. And she had certainly woken up in more uncomfortable situations so this was nothing new. What _was_ new was the rush of memories from the previous night. She cracked her eyes open and was greeted with bright morning sunshine. It seemed almost surreal in comparison to the darkness and calm of the previous night.

She glanced up and over to the bed but it was empty. It didn’t surprise her though. She always figured he was an early riser. He was probably out for a run or in the lobby on a super important phone call with a client.

She stretched her arms again and rolled over. What time was it? She found her phone in her purse on the floor next to her. When she looked at it, her eyes bulged. Not because of the time, although she was surprised she was awake at 7:45.

No, it was the seven texts and four missed calls from Rayna. She pressed voice mail and heard Rayna’s familiar voice take on a condescending tone, but anyone who really knew her could hear the genuine worry underneath.

“Where are you? This is not like you to not return texts. Are you okay? Call me. Text me. Something.”

She hit delete and listened to the next one.

“Have you two killed each other? Maybe this weekend wasn’t such a good idea. Just call me, okay?”

The texts were along the same lines and grew slightly more worried each time. It was true that it was unlike Mia not to return texts but with everything that happened, checking her phone hadn’t been at the top of her priority list. Figuring she shouldn’t keep Rayna in suspense any longer, she called. Rayna answered on the second ring.

“Where the hell have you been?”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Did you really think we killed each other?”

“What was I supposed to think?”

“Well, it could have gone to a less ridiculous situation. We got stuck in an elevator coming back from dinner and I had no cell signal. By the time we got out, it was late and just wanted to go to bed.

Her voice was low but the skepticism in Rayna’s voice was clear. “You were trapped in an elevator together? And you really didn’t kill each other?”

“Of course not,” Mia exclaimed. “Really Rayna. We’re adults. We were perfectly fine being stuck in an elevator together.”

Rayna paused. Mia could almost see her pursed lips and narrowed violet eyes. Her tone was surprisingly calm. “Yesterday you called me, wondering if you should back out of the whole weekend. You were texting me that he’s an absolute nightmare and you weren’t sure if you would survive. And you’re telling now me that everything is fine?!”

“Yeah. His family is more fun that I would have thought. His sister is so sweet. And after we yelled at each other, we actually found some common ground.”

“Are you serious?” Rayna asked softly but her tone raised in volume as she spoke again. So much for surprisingly calm. “If locking you two in an elevator was all it took, I would have done it years ago!”

“Well, it’s done now. There’s no use crying over strained milk.”

“It’s spilled milk, Mia.”

Mia waved her off. “Whatever. You know what I mean. I should probably go though. Just wanted to let you know we were both still alive. And you won’t have to worry about that anymore this weekend. I think we’ll be okay.”

Rayna paused again before saying, “What the hell happened in that elevator?”

“I told you,” Mia began with warmth in her voice. “We reached an understanding.”

“Fine. You can tell me all about it when you get back. Just let me know if it changes again. I need to be prepared if I'm going to be a witness in a murder trial.”

“I will,” Mia laughed. “See you Sunday.”

“Have a good trip. Don’t kill each other.”

Mia hung up and pulled her knees to her chest. She flipped through her phone a bit, wondering if she missed out on anything catastrophic in the last twelve hours. Nothing much. A few unimportant notifications on Instagram and a few photos of Maggie’s latest cake masterpiece. She texted Maggie that there better be a slice when she came back to work on Monday. Of course, Maggie was already up and at work on her next masterpiece so she texted back almost immediately. The last three slices of the masterpiece cake had been finished off by Noah. Of course it was. Noah was a food vacuum, after all.

Her restlessness built up and she decided to take in the view. It was a beautiful morning. At least that’s what she figured by the bright light trying to push through the curtains. She tossed aside the blanket, stepped outside and closed her eyes to take in the morning sun.

“Good morning.”

She practically jumped out of her skin at the voice and turned to see Kamden. He was sitting in one of the chairs, a book in his hand. His hair was tied back and he wore metal frame glasses that suited his face.

“I-I didn’t realize you were out here.”

“My apologies. I woke up early and I didn’t want to wake you.”

“Thank you,” Mia said, a bit of surprise in her voice. Then she realized that she had no bra on underneath her tank top and was wearing booty shorts. Shit.

“Brrr,” she said, rubbing her arms. “It’s a little chilly out here. I’ll be right back.”

She disappeared back inside. She paused inside the door and then remembered that the door was glass and he could still see her if he wanted to. She bee-lined back toward the couch, grabbed a blanket, wrapped herself in it, and walked back towards the balcony.

What was with her? It wasn’t like her to be self-conscious about her body like that. But then, it wasn’t like she was expecting him to be out there. 

She opened the door and settled in the chair beside him, the blanket still firmly wrapped around her. It wasn’t until she sat down that she realized he was more casual than she had ever seen him outside of a beach setting. He wore black track pants and a black, long sleeved shirt. It was strange seeing him without a collared shirt and a tie. He actually managed to look relaxed. It was nice, more approachable.

“Was the couch alright?”

“Yes. Thank you for the blankets. You didn’t have to.”

“You surrendered the bed. It was the least I could do.”

Mia smiled. Okay. So far, so good. No yelling. Could they maybe do small talk? “Have you been up long?”

“A couple of hours.”

“Oh. Sorry I…took up the room with sleeping.”

It was strange being so concerned about him, but she was. This was his sister’s weekend and, weird as it was, she found herself thinking that she didn’t want to put him out. Despite their past, he still deserved to enjoy his sister’s wedding weekend.

He smirked. “It’s quite alright. I’m an early riser. I’m accustomed to being quiet in the morning.”

The two fell silent and the morning breeze ruffled Mia’s hair. It really was a beautiful morning. The sun was bright, the sky was blue and a few puffy white clouds gently glided across the sky.

“So,” she began with a fresh air of enthusiasm in her voice, “Bunny’s game day doesn’t start until tonight, right? Is there anything planned for the morning?”

Kamden shook his head. “All of the friends are arriving this morning so it’s free for us.”

“So is there anything to do around here?”

He looked over the balcony, into the sea of green. “I’m not quite sure. The town is fairly small. We could see what there is to do.”

“We?”

“Well, we survived well in that elevator. I think we could survive a morning together. You know, to keep up the dating facade.”

“Yes. Of course,” she said. But her tone became surprisingly teasing as she continued. “And we could always pull out some games. I could destroy you in another game of tic-tac-toe.”

He raised an eyebrow but there wasn’t any of his usual condescension behind it. It seemed almost challenging, but in a fun, teasing sort of way.

“I don’t think that’s entirely fair. We did over an hour of games last night in a small, cramped elevator. I could defeat you with a less stressed mind.”

“You declared me tic-tac-toe champion last night. Your words.”

His smirk reached a little higher. “For last night. That was not a title to last forever.”

“You should have said so.”

“I believe I did. You’ll just have to defend your title in the future.” He closed his book with a snap. “Now, before you interject, we should get ready.”

Mia pouted playfully and stuck her tongue out. “Spoilsport.”

-

“Look at the goats!”

Mia jumped out of the car before it came to a full stop. Sure enough, there was a paddock with several goats just off the side of the road. And Mia was running straight for them.

She paid no attention to Kamden who managed to park safely, despite the girl leaping out of his still (slowly) moving car.

He stepped beside her. “Have you never seen goats before?”

“Not in real life.” She held out her hand and made clicking noises with her tongue to entice them. They looked at her and shoved their muzzles into her hand. After realizing she had no food to offer, they walked away.

“Quick. I need some food to give them.”

His brow pushed together. “This isn’t a petting zoo. You can’t just offer food to strange animals.” He paused before saying, “Why do you think I have food that’s appropriate for goats?”

But Mia didn’t hear him because her attention was solely on the goats who stepped out of their little wooden home. Her voice raised an octave.

“Look at the babies!” Sure enough, when Kamden followed her gaze, there were three small goats jumping out of the tiny goat house. Mia marveled at the way they jumped and ran, as if they didn’t have full control over their motor skills yet.

She looked back at Kamden to gauge his reaction but his face was impassive. “Yes. Goats have babies just like any other animal.”

Mia’s jaw dropped and she gestured wildly at them with both arms. “But they’re babies! They’re so tiny.” He seemed unmoved so she continued. “How can you not aww at the cuteness of baby goats?”

He scrunched his brow. “Why is it that when something is smaller, it’s automatically cuter?”

She seemed to give up on him and pulled out her phone. She managed to hit record just as one of the baby goats decided to head butt the other.

In the back of her mind, she was surprised that Kamden was allowing this to happen. That he wasn’t mocking her like he used to. She could imagine what he would have said to her just a few days ago. But, surprisingly enough, he was silent as she continued to take photos and videos of the goats.

“Is this what you plan to do all morning?”

“Oh hush,” she said. Even his tone was different than before. It wasn’t patronizing. It was, unbelievably, friendly. She stuck her hand back out and clicked her tongue again to lure them toward her. “Are you sure you don’t have any food in your glove compartment or something?”

Kamden rolled his eyes but Mia thought she saw a hint of smile as he did so. “I’m sure. And you really shouldn’t lure them toward you if you don’t have anything to give them.”

“It’s alright,” another voice said. It was a woman walking out a side door and across the pen. She was somewhere between adult and middle aged and had dark hair pulled into a ponytail with a few escaping strands. “They’re opportunists. They do this all the time. They’ll try and get food from anyone who passes by.”

“Hello,” Kamden greeted, looking slightly embarrassed. “I apologize. We didn’t mean to be a bother.”

“It’s alright,” the woman said. “You’re not a bother at all. And if you like, I was just about to feed them.”

Mia noticed the bucket of hay she was offering toward her and Mia’s eyes lit up. “Really? That would be okay?”

The woman nodded and Mia cast a wary eye at Kamden before grabbing a handful. The goats, who began following the woman as soon as she arrived, noticed that Mia now had food too. She cautiously held it out and a nearby brown goat started chomping and pulling at the hay.

Mia laughed. “Look. It’s really eating it.”

“Of course. Goats will eat anything.”

“Would you like some too?” the woman asked, offering him the bucket.

He held up his hand. “No. I’m alright.”

“Come on you wimp,” Mia teased. She grabbed another handful and offered it to another willing mouth. “They’re just goats. Or are you afraid of them?” She narrowed her eyes and raised her eyebrows in a challenge.

“Fine,” he said, rolling his eyes. He grabbed a small handful of hay and offered it to one of the farther goats, who grabbed at it quickly. “There. I’m feeding a goat. Are you happy?”

She already pulled out her phone with her other hand and pulled up her camera again. “Very,” she said with a smile and took a picture before he could intervene. “I think I’ll call this one ‘Kamden bonds with nature’.”

He rolled his eyes, and Mia could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on his face. “Very original.”

“No no,” the woman hissed. Mia jerked but then she realized the woman was talking to the goats. “You’ve had your fair share. Let your brother have some too.” She put her attention back to the humans and said, “I take it you two aren’t from around here?” the woman asked.

Mia scrunched her nose. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only when you’ve lived in the country as long as I have.” She continued doling out the hay and pushing other goats aside who apparently already had their fair share. Mia wondered how she could tell them apart.

“Is there much to do around here? We were hoping for something exciting.” Mia asked but seemed to immediately regret her words. “Not that this isn’t exciting.”

“That’s alright,” she laughed. “Well,” she continued as she emptied the last of the hay on the ground to the happiness of the greedier goats, “there is the food festival going on today.”

“Really?” She turned to Kamden. “There’s a festival going on today. Did you hear?”

“Yes. I did. At the same time as you,” he said completely dry.

“We should go!”

Kamden paused before he said, “Alright.”

-

Mia wiped her forehead. The morning sun was getting warm but, regardless of that, she was running towards the festival entrance. Even though it wasn’t quite 11:00, amazing smells were already wafting in the air. They didn’t even have breakfast that long ago but the intermingling smells of fried sweets and barbecued meat were making her hungry again.

Kamden wasn’t too far behind but she still yelled at him to hurry up. He strode towards her, hands in his pockets and taking in the sights of the festival. Evidently, he did not miss how she stared at the food stalls.

“You’re hungry again?”

She gaped at him. “How can you not get hungry when you smell that?”

Kamden shrugged. “I guess I don’t think about food that much.”

“Don’t tell you’re one of those workaholic types who eats a protein bar and calls it lunch.”

He shrugged. “It has all the appropriate nutrients I need.”

Mia tilted her head, as if she was about to tell a child bad news. “Do you also go to festivals and not eat any of the food?”

“Of course I do.”

Mia quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. “Okay. What’s your favourite food to get?”

He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated a bit too long before he said, “Mini donuts.”

Mia’s eyebrow raised higher. “And how long has it been since you’ve even been to a festival?”

“Are you trying to insist that I never have any fun?”

Her eyebrow immediately lowered and she blushed in embarrassment. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate that-”

Fortunately, he looked almost as embarrassed as she felt. “No, it’s fine.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I didn’t…mean that.”

“I know.” The two were silent for a moment before Mia gestured to the festival. “Well, shall we?”

“Yes.”

The two fell into step next to each other and stayed silent as they looked at the booths around them. Mia eyed a churro stand longingly and promised the sweet scents of cinnamon and sugar that she would come back to it. People walked by her with loaded containers of mac and cheese and mini fish tacos and she found her stomach demanding to be fed again. She demanded that her stomach quiet down. _We ate breakfast less than three hours ago. Stop it._

_"_ Would you like to get something to eat?”

She whipped her head around, almost surprised when she remembered that Kamden was still there. “Um, yeah. Sure. If you’re hungry.”

“Well, I suppose the smells are making me a bit hungry.”

She smiled. “I thought a protein bar would be enough for you.”

“I’m only worried about your well-being.”

Her smile turned sly and she metaphorically poked him. “Oh sure. When you’re stuck in an office with no temptations, a protein bar is fine.”

“So, what are you going to get?”

“I know you’re just trying to change the subject,” she said with a teasing tone. “Fortunately for you, the funnel cake stand is calling my name. One with chocolate and strawberries.”

“Chocolate?” he asked accusingly. “Before lunch?”

She rolled her eyes. “Life is boring if you restrict chocolate to after noon.”

Mia smiled and tried to talk him into one too but he vehemently refused. He also pushed away Mia’s wallet when she ordered.

“I can pay for my own.”

“This was part of the arrangement,” he said, handing over cash to the vendor. “I said I would pay for the whole weekend.”

“Oh. Right.” She took the funnel cake with a quick thanks to the vendor and turned to follow Kamden. She supposed she could do with saving the money. And it wasn’t as if Kamden was hurting for cash. “Thank you,” she said to him.

He smiled a hint of a smile and said, “You’re welcome.”

She took a bite filled with pastry and strawberries and chocolate and immediately smiled. Chocolate always made things brighter. “So what are you going to get?”

He glanced around the booths carefully, as if there was a right answer. “A hot dog,” he finally said, nodding towards the booth.

With food in both of their hands, they found a small standing table to consume their food. She teased him for his choice of mustard and relish on his hot dog because ketchup was the one true hot dog condiment.

It really was a beautiful day. There were some distant clouds but it was clear skies above them. The sun was bright but the large trees lining the lane kept most of it out of their eyes. And the trees. The trees were gorgeous. Some of them started to fade to red but most were still a brilliant green. 

“So, what now?” he asked as he cleaned the last of the relish off his fingers.

She fumbled with her last few bites as she glanced around at the booths. “Hurricane potato!”

“A what?”

“You’ve never had one?”

“I don’t think I know what that is.”

“Then you have to try one.” Without a second thought, she grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the stand.

He stared at the strange spiralized, fried potato she coerced him into ordering. She ordered curry flavour. He was less adventurous and ordered salt and pepper. But after a few bites, he admitted that she was right and the two happily munched on their potatoes. From there she had mac and cheese loaded with bacon and green onions while he enjoyed a slice of meat lovers pizza. From there, they shared a platter of sliders. She pushed the ones with mushrooms to him and he graciously let her have her first choices. From there it was dessert.

“I’m so full,” Mia said, biting into her half eaten churro.

“You don’t have to finish it, you know.” He popped another mini donut in his mouth. “I won’t be offended.”

Mia gasped and pulled her food closer to her. “You don’t just throw away churros. I may be full but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop eating this.”

“That…” he trailed off, unsure how to make his point.

“There’s always room for more churros.” She emphasized her point by shoving the last, slightly too large, bite in her mouth. She then proceeded to choke when she tried to swallow it too fast.

“Are you alright?”

She nodded while coughing through cinnamon and sugar. When she finally cleared her airway, she looked back at him as if nothing happened.

“So…games?”

-

“Do you think a goldfish would last all weekend?”

They noticed the line of booths of games earlier and Mia forced Kamden to check them out with her.

“Definitely not. We are not keeping a goldfish in the room.”

She rolled her eyes with a smile. “Fine. How about toy fishing? Do you have any objections to a toy in the room?”

Mia could have sworn she saw him smirk before he said, “That would be acceptable.”

She was off to the toy fishing booth before he finished speaking. By the time he arrived behind her, she was lost in scanning for the perfect prize. It was a simple game really, try to hook a toy with the definitely-for-kids fishing rod. Each toy had a small hook on it and the water the toys sat in had a gentle current, rushing them by.

Once the same tennis playing Hello Kitty passed by three times he asked, “Are you looking for something in particular?”

She held up a finger for him to remain silent and carefully lifted her bright yellow rod. With a steady hand she lowered it in and pulled up a Bulbasaur. She frowned and rifled through her pocket for more change.

“What’s wrong with Bulbasaur?”

She pouted her lips and stared at the figure in her hand. “It’s Bulbasaur,” she said as if the answer was obvious. “No one ever wants Bulbasaur.”

He gave her a gaze that felt like an x-ray. “I would have pictured you for picking Pikachu.”

She waved her hand. “Nah. He’s cute and all but everybody wanted Pikachu. And besides, Squirtle was so much cooler.”

“And nobody ever wanted Bulbasaur?”

“Exactly,” she said. She turned towards him to accentuate her point. “Bulbasaur was always the…” She trailed off when she saw the look on his face and her shoulders slumped. “You were a Bulbasaur kid, weren’t you?” His silence was all the confirmation she needed. She smirked, thrust the Bulbasaur at him and her eyes went back to scour the figures. “In that case I’ll need a Charmander to kick your Bulbasaur’s butt.”

“You already missed it once. What makes you think you could catch it this time?”

It was strange. Those same words would have sounded so callous yesterday. But today, they held a hint of warmth and a teasing challenge. She smiled.

“And you think you could do better?”

He rolled up the sleeves of his collared shirt and pulled out his wallet. “Yes.”

By the time they called it quits on the toy fishing, they had all four original starters as well as a Winnie the Pooh, a Stitch, and a Hello Kitty in a kimono. While Mia did catch more, Kamden’s accuracy was better than hers. In the end, they each choose the ones they wanted to keep.

“So what are you going to do with them?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

She stopped and stepped directly in front of him. “Are you going to put them on your desk at work or something?”

“I’ll give Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty to Bunny. She’ll love them and put them in her windowsill.”

There was a warmth to his face that she noticed came to him whenever he talked about his sister. It was nice. It made him feel a bit more human. And it made her smile too.

“So, what do you want to do next?”

-

“Batman? Really?”

Kamden gave a shrug that was so small, she almost didn’t see it. “The nineties cartoon, mainly. It was a very different Batman from the big movies and I found him to be a much more focused and sympathetic Batman. He was interesting and complex. And he never wanted to kill anyone. He legitimately wanted to help them.”

It was at a merch stand for kids that their favourite childhood characters came up and she found herself poking and prodding until he gave an answer. In an attempt to avoid the question, he walked away from the stand and hoped that she would drop the subject. But that only made her want to know more. But his justification made sense and she could see why he would have been drawn to him.

“So not Adam West?”

“Still a classic. But for very different reasons.”

It was strange being together with him like this. They were laughing and joking in a way they never had before. It was relaxed, simple, and getting easier with every word they exchanged. They didn’t even notice the grey clouds that rolled in on the horizon.

“So since you know my darkest secret, it’s time for you to tell me your favourite character.”

She smirked and tucked her arms behind her. “Nope.”

“What do you mean ‘Nope’?”

“I mean you won’t find out.”

“And why not?”

“Because this is more fun.”

“I trusted you with my secret. It’s time you told me yours. Doesn’t our relationship deserve that?”

Mia stopped. “Our…relationship?”

If Kamden could be bashful, this was probably it. He looked away and she thought she saw a tiny blush appear on his cheeks. No. She must be seeing things. Kamden never got embarrassed. It must be the red leaves reflecting on his skin. “Yes. I think our relationship has become something a bit more akin to friendship.” He looked her directly in the eyes. “Don’t you?”

Mia stopped an inadvertent blush from painting her face. “Yes. I…I do.”

Was that a smile on his face? It was gone from his face so quickly, she wasn’t sure.

“So I think that entitles me to know who your favourite character was.”

Mia made a show of looking at the vendors around them, despite having already looked at them at least half a dozen times. She looked back out of the corner of her eyes and saw that he was watching her. Was he actually interested in what she had to say? She looked away and muttered her answer.

“What was that? I didn’t get that.”

“Jem,” she repeated.

Kamden cupped his chin and Mia could tell that he couldn’t quite place that character.

“And the Holograms.”

Kamden’s eyebrow rose. “Isn’t that a bit predictable?”

“Isn’t Batman?”

“Fair. So why Jem? Wasn't she a bit before your time?”

“Reruns on TV. I saw a couple of episodes and I was hooked. She was an idol, big surprise there. But she owned her own music company too. She was badass and anyone who can manage both of those careers at the same time is automatically amazing. And she kicked ass at both.”

“That is impressive. Although I can’t say I ever really watched it.”

“I have it on DVD! I will bring it over and we are going to watch it. You would love her.” And then Mia clapped her lips. Where was all of this friendly energy coming from? She couldn’t just invite herself over to his place. “Or, you know, I could loan them to you.”

Kamden opened his mouth to respond but Mia felt a drip. Apparently he felt one too. They both looked up and she saw grey clouds perched perfectly above them. It was definitely starting to rain.

“Strange. There was no rain in the forecast today,” Kamden said.

As if to contradict his words, the clouds opened and rain began pouring down in buckets. Kamden grabbed her wrist and tugged.

They weren’t the only ones. Patrons were cowering under vendor awnings or dashing for the nearby community centre. With her wrist in his hand, he pulled her away towards an opening in the vendors and into the trees.

“Where are we going?”

He seemed to speak more to himself than to her. “I thought I saw…ah. Perfect.”

Kamden pulled them under the branches of a large tree. Mia fell against the trunk to catch her breath. Other than the drip drop of the rain and the twittering of birds a few branches above, there was silence between them.

Before they could say anything, a branch bowed under the sudden downpour and dropped a stream next to Kamden. Reflexively, he took a step back, bringing him closer to Mia and leaned against the trunk beside her.

“Close call,” she said, breaking the silence.

It was true. Her hair was wet but nothing that wouldn’t take too long to dry. Kamden was a bit worse off. The dripping stream splashed onto him more than he probably hoped and his pants were more than just wet. Fortunately, the rest of him wasn’t too bad. His hair was clinging to itself and his shirt clung a little tighter. Mia couldn’t help but notice that his damp shirt showed off his figure a bit more than she was used to. And, when did he roll up his shirt sleeves? She was oddly aware of his arm muscles and how they moved.

“I suppose we’ll just have to wait here until it clears.”

Mia forced herself not to stare and took interest in the tree trunk instead. “Yes. I suppose we will. So I guess this means I have to defend my tic tac toe champion title?” Kamden chuckled and Mia was aghast. “Did I really just make you laugh?”

“Surprising, I know.”

It was nice, this sort of banter they had been building all day. It was comfortable, easy.

“Can you imagine the surprises on everyone’s faces when we get back and announce we don’t hate each other anymore?”

“It will be interesting.”

“Rayna didn’t believe me when I told her.”

He turned to her, surprisingly interested. “When did you speak to her?”

“This morning. She texted me a few times last night and got worried when I didn’t respond.” She shrugged. “I guess I didn’t think to check my phone after we got out of the elevator. She thought we killed each other.”

The rain and twittering of birds echoed around them and he leaned in. It was small but it still made goosebumps appear on her skin. She didn’t think they ever stood this closely.

He put his hand against the tree above her. “And what did you tell her?”

She shuffled her feet and found that her fingers were twiddling. “I told her we reached an understanding.”

“An understanding,” he echoed. “And what did she think of that?”

Was his face closer? No. Couldn’t be. But then why did it feel like the hair on the back of her neck was standing up?

“She didn’t really believe me. I guess she’ll have to see how well we get along when we get back.”

“Would you say we get along well enough to surprise them?”

Was that his breath on her face? No. It had to be the breeze. But he did seem closer.

“Yes.”

Seriously, was he closer? Was she? She wasn’t sure anymore. But she was faintly aware that she wasn’t leaning against the tree as much anymore.

“Mia-” he cut himself off, looking up. “What was that?”

When he looked back down, Mia saw a glob of white goo at his hairline. He reached to wipe at it before Mia could tell him to stop.

“What the hell?” he wondered, looking at his hand.

As if in answer, the birds above them twittered and flew away. Realization dawned on them at the same time.

“Did a bird just shit on my head?”

She clamped her lips to keep from laughing and nodded.

“Fuck.”

The bubbling laughter escaped her and Kamden raised a brow.

“I’m sorry,” she said between giggles. “I’m just not used to hearing you swear like that.”

“Well, it’s not every day that a bird shits on me.”

Her laughter was still going but she managed to say, “I’ll get some napkins. Be right back.”

Fortunately, the rain diminished to a drizzle and she didn’t get very wet. As she returned from the food vendors, she figured she probably grabbed too many but then, how many was the right amount to get bird poop out?

Sure enough, he eyed the small stack she carried. “How big do you think that bird was?”

She shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

They stood in silence as he dabbed at his head. Mia shifted her weight. Should she offer to help? Would that be too weird?

He balled up a napkin and lowered his head to her. “Did I get all of it?”

“Most of it. But we should get you back to the hotel so you can wash it out properly.”

“Are you sure? You said you wanted to-”

“It’s fine. Getting that out of your hair is definitely more important.”

-

The trip back was relatively quiet. Mia watched as Kamden stepped carefully in and out of his car to avoid smearing anything on his headrest. She asked him if he had any towels. She didn’t want to wreck the seat. But he said it wouldn’t be necessary and turned on the seat warmers. She tried to think of something to say but he didn’t seem like he was in much of a conversational mood.

He also wasn’t smiling anymore and she wondered if it was taking of his concentration to focus on driving and not smearing bird poop all over his nice expensive car.

She wasn’t complaining about the silence though. She had a few things to ponder over herself. What the hell was going on under that tree? Did he realize how close he was standing to her? Or was she standing close to him? It was like something out of a damn romcom.

Wait. That had to be it. She and Maggie had a romcom marathon just last week. They must have leeched into her head and made her see things that weren’t there. After all, this was Kamden. They hated each other.

Sort of.

Used to.

She tried to remember all the reasons she hated him but they seemed weaker now. So much of him was explained by that scared little boy who didn’t want to be rejected again. 

When they first met, she flirted a bit. But he was so unresponsive, it was like flirting with a brick wall. But of course he didn’t respond. Why would he give someone a chance if they hadn’t given him a reason that they would stick around? Was that why he was a lawyer? To become successful? To fight for the little guy? To show everyone that he was better than that scared young boy?

She thought about their arguments too. Before, she saw him as deliberately disagreeing with her but now, thinking back, she didn’t give him the chance to explain himself. She was so stuck that he was against her, that she didn’t think about what he might say. But she had the wrong impression of him. Just like he had her pegged wrong.

Maybe this weekend would be better than she thought. Not just for her career but for their relationship. Maybe they really could be friends.

She thought about them hanging out together past the weekend. Getting a drink, going for food, watching a movie. The idea was actually kind of appealing.

She jerked back to reality when she realized they were pulling into the parking lot.

“Did you want to come up too or…” he trailed off, unsure of quite what to say.

“No, it’s fine. My hair isn’t very wet and I can keep myself busy. Go ahead.”

He nodded and disappeared up the stairs. By herself, for the first time that weekend she realized, she had no idea what to do. She popped her lips and looked around the lobby. People were checking in, she assumed Bunny and Matthew’s friends. A few eyed her curiously and she thought it was best if she was able to avoid questions for now. Instead, she dashed up the stairs.

She breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out her key card. Good. Hide out in the room. She would catch up on some social media, maybe post a few pictures on her Instagram of the food from the day. Yes, that was a better choice than face the awkward questions of who she was. At least at the games night she could be introduced properly.

She slid her key card and pushed open the door, ready to settle out on the balcony to give Kamden some space.

What she didn’t expect when she walked in was a very muscular and very naked Kamden.


	5. Chapter 5

The only sound that could be heard as the two stared at each other was the door closing behind her. After a long moment, they broke the silence at the same time, loudly.

“What are you doing out here naked?”

“You said you would be downstairs!”

Another long moment of silence passed before Kamden came back to life and immediately dashed into the bathroom. Mia didn’t think she had ever seen him move so fast in her life.

Maybe it would be better if she went back downstairs.

Fortunately, the previous guests she saw checking in seemed to have moved on and she sat on a couch in the lobby, her thoughts running quickly.

Well, she saw Kamden naked. That was something she never thought would happen. The least clothed she ever saw him was a short sleeved shirt and board shorts. And that was at the beach. He never even took off his shirt that day. She thought about the night before, when Eileen made the passing comment about them having sex. The thought passed momentarily. But now, there it was in the, surprisingly muscular, flesh. It wasn’t that she intentionally looked. But she always was a curious person and before she knew it, her eyes roamed over his skin. It was nice. Nicer than she would have expected and the flush she felt on her cheeks definitely wasn’t from embarrassment.

Besides, they were adults. So what if they saw each other naked? What would he have expected her to see underneath his clothes? For him to be completely smooth like a Ken doll? Besides, it would be fine. Situations like this were what guys prided themselves on, being able to show off.

Her phone vibrated. _You can come back up if you need to get ready for tonight. I’m dressed now_.

Right. They were mature adults. They could carry on. Besides, as she reminded herself, he was probably proud of the situation, or laughing about it right now. And besides, she caught herself thinking, he certainly did have nice assets to show off. Again, not that she meant to look.

-

If he was proud or laughing about the situation, he certainly didn’t show it. He excused himself almost immediately after she came back to the room. She rolled her eyes as the door closed behind him. He was probably going to brag to Matthew about it or something.

Then she remembered that wouldn’t make sense. To everyone else there, they were a couple, not two people who hated each other and entered into a weird agreement. 

Okay, not hated. Tolerated? Enjoyed each other's company?

She noticed the Bulbasaur she won at the toy fishing booth and picked it up where he left it on the nightstand. Flashes of the afternoon came back to her. He had been hospitable, generous and more kind than she would have expected. But then, he was supposed to be her fake boyfriend.

He did buy her food, but then he did say that he would pay for everything this weekend. He gave her the Stitch figure when she awwed at his capture of it. But then, what would he do with a Stitch figure anyways?

She pulled the Charmander out of her purse and set it down with the Bulbasaur. She should probably get ready.

-

After a shower, a change of clothes and fresh makeup, there was still no sign of Kamden. She pulled out her phone.

_Where are you?_

His reply came quickly. _Downstairs. I’m helping them set up for the games night. Come down when you’re ready._

She felt a hint of annoyance and pursed her lips. They were supposed to act like a couple this weekend. And he made such a big deal about arriving to the hotel together. Wouldn’t this make people suspicious? She would have to compensate for that.

After a quick check in the full length mirror, she went out the door and downstairs. 

Bunny and Matthew were floating around the room, getting things ready. Then she noticed Kamden, half hidden behind the TV, setting up Mario Kart. She tried to catch his eye but he was facing away from her. Instead, she looked around.

The room was huge and amazing. She knew it was a games night and Bunny said there would be karaoke but she didn’t expect there would be this level of, well, games. She already noticed Mario Kart that Kamden was setting up. In another corner was a full arcade set up of DDR. Not the crappy plastic mats that moved the opposite way of you. No, this was a full arcade system with metal pads ready to go. She wondered how they even got it in. Another corner had a full karaoke setup complete with a small platform to act as a stage. In the fourth corner had a small mass of tables with a pile of board games. There were a few tables around the room and, sure enough, the table in the middle of the room was filled with food.

Matthew, who was standing the closest to her when she entered, chuckled when he saw Mia’s face. “Buns always likes to be prepared when it comes to fun.”

“It’s amazing.” She caught sight of Kamden, who was still staring adamantly at the console, even though the welcome screen seemed to indicate that it was working just fine. “Nice job, Mr. Muscles,” she teased.

That seemed to get his attention. But he only looked at her for a moment before saying, “It doesn’t require muscle to set up a Switch.”

“Take the compliment,” Matthew said. “While you can get them.”

Bunny popped up from the board games table and placed her hands firmly on her waist. “Is that comment directed at me? I compliment you all the time.”

“I can’t remember the last time you complimented my muscles.”

She smiled and stepped over to him. She experimentally squeezed his bicep and theatrically gasped. “Mattie, have you been working out?”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

“Good. Because now I need to pay attention to Mia.” Sure enough, Bunny swiveled on the spot and was at Mia’s side in a moment. “I’m so glad you came down early. Do you like DDR?”

“I-I haven’t played in years.”

“That’s okay. I haven’t played in ages either. Mattie doesn’t like to play and Kamden refuses to play with me anymore.”

Whatever Mia was going to say died in her throat and was replaced with, “Anymore?” she asked with a devilish grin in Kamden’s direction.

His lips clamped shut but Bunny continued. “He used to play with me all the time.”

“You forced me to play with you all the time,” he said from behind the TV. Geez. What was he doing back there again? The game was already set up.

“And you enjoyed every minute of it,” Bunny said, sticking out her tongue, despite the fact that he could not see her. “So Mia, I wanted to play some games with you before everyone comes. What do you like? Karaoke? Mario Kart? Twister? DDR?”

Mia glanced at Kamden, still somehow making work behind the TV, and she smiled. “Let’s all play Mario Kart.”

“Great. Mattie, are you done with the karaoke machine yet? Kam, is Mario Kart ready yet?”

The two men concurred and Bunny gathered them all in front of the TV. Somehow, Bunny also managed to grab a bowl of candy without anyone noticing.

Mia was squashed between Bunny and Kamden and handed a controller before she could register what happened. She glanced at Kamden, offering a smile but he barely met her gaze. She looked him up and down as he crossed his legs. “You pick first, honey.” For good measure, she squeezed his bicep and smiled suggestively.

He barely looked at her through the exchange. Instead, he stared back at the screen and she watched as he picked Bowser. She chose Rosalina. Peach and Mario were also selected.

Mia turned to Bunny. “Let’s do this.”

-

Mia curved around the edges of Rainbow Road. She was repeatedly trading places with an NPC for first place and it was the last lap. She was close. She could see the finish line. And she was ahead by just enough that she could- “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!”

The remnants of a blue shell disappeared and Mia could only watch helplessly as Rosalina bounced and puttered until she could get control of her again. But by the time she finally got her going again, she crossed the finish line in eighth place.

Pouting, she stood and threw the controller down to the seat. “Okay, who was it?” she demanded and glared at the players around her, ignoring the final scores that she still finished the best overall of the group at third place.

Bunny and Matthew both seemed blameless so she turned her attention to Kamden.

“It was probably one of the computer characters. I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” he said.

He had been so grumpy the whole game. He barely said a word, even when Bunny started throwing words at him.

“I do worry about it. That Bowser shell was the thing standing between me and that gold trophy.”

“Like I said, you can’t get mad at a computer character so why worry?”

Mia paused and narrowed her eyes. That was the most he said since she came down. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

He let out a breath. “Well, it’s not as if I had much choice. I was in tenth place.”

He pointed at the TV and sure enough, Bowser was sitting in eleventh place in the final standings.

“But you drive,” Mia said. “How are you bad at this game?”

He rolled his eyes almost teasingly. “I don’t drive my car with a controller. Roads make sense, they aren’t designed with hairpin turns so that you fall off.”

Mia opened her mouth to speak again but instead, burst into sudden giggles.

“I just can’t believe you’re so bad at Mario Kart.”

“Indeed he is,” came a new voice.

“Travis!” Bunny yelped, jumping out of her seat to give her cousin a hug.

Mia and Kamden broke their eye contact and Kamden adamantly looked away. What was with him? Was she not acting girlfriendy enough? Maybe she should ramp it up a bit.

“How long have you been standing there?” Kamden asked.

“Just long enough to witness your embarrassing defeat. Now Mia,” he said as he pulled out of the hug, “Don’t forget. If you found that amusing, I have years more of embarrassing stories of Kamden.”

Mia winked and looped her arm through his. “I’ll definitely take you up on that.” She looked back over her shoulder at Kamden. “But we’ll escape later and you can tell me when he’s not watching.”

“Deal.”

-

The room was full of people all around their age. There were cousins and friends and Mia was having a hard time keeping track of some of the names. There was Naomi, one of Bunny’s oldest friends, with her partner, Gary. There were cousins she met from the night before, along with more who only arrived that day. There were probably thirty or forty people in the room. Most were mingling but a few started breaking off to play something nearby that caught their eye.

As for Mia and Kamden, they were chatting with another of Bunny’s old friends, Amy, and her boyfriend, Zack. Mia tugged Kamden a bit closer to her. He brought her as his girlfriend, he was damn well going to get girlfriend material.

“I’m a pianist,” Zack said.

“That’s amazing,” Mia said. “What do you like to play?”

Zack’s eyes lit up, as if he was never asked that question. “Mashups of classical music. Paganini, Mozart, a little Beethoven. Depends what I’ve been listening to, really. But most piano bars don’t appreciate or recognize those composers. So I usually play covers of top 40 songs. Not that those aren’t fun…”

“They’re just not what you want to play. I agree that some of the latest talent can sound a bit similar, but you can never go wrong with Ariana Grande.”

Zack grinned. “I’ll toast to that.”

She clinked his glass as she stroked Kamden’s arm.

“So,” Amy said. “How did you two meet?”

“Yeah,” Zack said. “How did you manage to find someone as cool as Mia? You’re way too busy to hang out anywhere worthwhile.”

“Common friends. A few friends of mine are with friends of hers.”

Zack gasped dramatically. “You have other friends? Does Matthew know about this?” Before Kamden could respond, Zack called over the crowd, “SHIELDS! Did you know Kamden has other friends?”

“He lives in another city. Of course he’s allowed to have other friends.”

Dissatisfied with his response, Zack turned back to Kamden. “Is this why you haven’t been visiting? Your other friends?”

“You don’t have to pester him at every opportunity,” Amy said.

“Of course I do. Speaking of which,” he continued, looking back at Mia, “I can see why he likes you but you’re so much cooler than he is. What do you see in this stuffed shirt, anyways?”

Mia slid her hand into his to get his attention and he actually looked at her. Was he curious to know what she would say? “Well, beneath that stony exterior, he actually has a heart. And a very sweet one at that. He’s a big teddy bear under it all. But with the body of a Greek God.”

Zack was bent over laughing. “That face! The embarrassment. Mia, you’re fantastic!”

For good measure, she patted his chest with her free hand. She glanced at him but his smile seemed forced.

“Always the joker, aren’t you?” He squeezed her hand but it felt a bit tighter than it should.

The two smiled forcedly at each other for a moment too long but Zack seemed to take it in stride as he recovered from his laughing fit. “Ah young love.”

“I’m older than you,” Kamden said.

He waved it off. “Technicalities.”

“It was nice meeting you,” Amy said. “But we should really greet a few other people.”

“Wait. One more thing. Do something with him, wont’ you Mia?”

She raised her eyebrow. “Do something with him?”

“Yeah. Make him less…this,” he said gesturing to Kamden, who raised his eyebrow. “He’s so stuffy. Loosen him up a bit.”

“I try,” she said with a shrug.

The two disappeared with a wave and Mia promised him a game later.

Mia looked back at Kamden, hand cupping her chin. “He’s right.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so stiff. You need to loosen up a bit.” Before he could react, she reached for his shirt buttons. As she gripped his shirt, he froze but Mia rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to improve your image.” She unbuttoned his top two buttons. “Relax. Besides it’s not like you’re hiding anything gruesome. You’ve got it. Show it off a bit.”

“Is that your life motto?”

“Number 6 life motto. Number one is to live without regret.”

“No regrets?”

She shook her head. “None.”

He was smiling at her and she wondered if she imagined all of his weirdness from earlier.

“Mia!”

A dark head was the source of the voice and Mia turned in its direction.

“Tori!”

The young girl bounded up quickly but grew nervous as she got closer.

“I’m glad you came,” Mia said. “You owe me a BandMaid song.”

“You still want to?”

“Of course. Let’s go before a line starts.” As she turned to leave, she paused. “Sorry Kamden. You don’t mind, do you?”

“No. Not at all.” He turned his attention to Tori, “I’m glad to see how excited you are for it. I remember when you insisted to perform for everyone at Travis’s birthday.”

Tori smiled bashfully and looked half at her feet, half at Mia. “I was seven.”

“And it was quite the performance. The confetti guns were quite the surprise.”

Mia could only raise her eyebrows in intrigue. But before she could pry for details, Tori grabbed Mia’s wrist. “We better get up there before anyone else does.”

Mia took full advantage and made sure they were both front and centre on the tiny stage. Mia scrolled through the albums and looked back at Tori, whose eyes were a bit wider than they were before. “How about Thrill?”

“I-I love that song.”

“I thought you might.” And before she could say anything else, Mia hit play.

The electric guitars kicked in and Mia banged her head a little in time with the music. She kicked it in first, hoping Tori would ease in.

“I’ve gotta be on my way,” Mia sang.

Sure enough, Tori eased in and those little nerves disappeared. Mia smiled as she watched Tori get more and more into it. The girl really had great stage presence once she loosened up. She noticed that more and more eyes were on them and as she could see Tori get nervous, Mia grabbed her hand and gave her a twirl. Their Japanese wasn’t perfect but she figured no one even noticed.

As her eyes glanced over the people, she saw Kamden looking over at her with one of his almost smiles. But when their eyes met, he looked away again. If she wasn’t having so much fun, she would have wondered why he was still being weird.

The song came to an end and a few people in the room clapped as if they weren’t sure if they should or not. Then, Bunny jumped up from a game of what looked like Go Fish. “Mia, I want to sing with you next!”

A friend, Malcolm if she remembered correctly, laughed and tugged at Bunny’s hand. “Maybe later. You have a game to finish.”

“Later then. Save me a song.”

“I will. I should get that gorgeous man of mine up here too.” When Kamden turned around from a game of Mario Party (she saw Travis grab him in for it halfway through the song), she winked, pointed at the TV, and blew him a kiss. “Save some of that action for me later.”

He smiled forcibly and turned back to the game.

Mia turned back to Tori, who was noticeably smiling. “Should we do another song?”

“Absolutely,” Mia said.

-

Mia and Tori did two more songs before other people drifted over to take their turn at the mic.

Then she figured she should be dutiful and check in with Kamden like the good girlfriend she was pretending to be.

Travis, as Toad, was taking his turn and made an extraordinary roll, but still made it just short of a star. Kamden was somewhere between pained and enjoying himself, as if he was loathe to admit it. There were two others playing with them that Mia didn’t think she met yet. Sure enough, they were eyeing her curiously.

“Hi,” she greeted. “I’m Mia. I’m Kamden’s girlfriend.”

The two made it through introductions. Austin was a friend of Matthew’s from high school. He was a couple years younger than Matthew with sandy blonde hair and he brought his high school sweetheart, Abby. She was short but with incredibly long dark hair. Mia settled on the arm of the couch and Austin quickly turned his attention to Kamden.

“You didn’t tell us you were seeing someone.”

Kamden pressed A, making Bowser jump and rolled a four. “I didn’t realize you took such a vested interest in my love life.” Bowser moved the four spaces and landed on a red space.

“You never gave us reason to think you would have one.”

“Well he does.” Mia made sure to smile one of her dazzling smiles. “It’s nice to finally meet other people who know more than just his serious side.”

Abby and Austin laughed as the board faded to a mini game. “He better show you more than just his serious side.” Abby said.

“Don’t worry. I’ve seen all sides of him,” she said with a wink, earning laughter from the whole group, especially Travis.

Kamden’s eyes snapped to her but she ignored it.

“What’s your favourite side of him?” Abby asked.

The mini game tutorial played on in the background but the whole group wanted to hear what she had to say.

Mia cupped her chin and swung her leg. “When he’s so embarrassed that he gets grumpy.”

Austin laughed. “That would be something to see.”

Mia grabbed a Kit Kat off the table and peeled it open. “Indeed it is.”

“Care to regale us with a story?” Travis asked.

Before Mia could respond, Kamden cut in. “I don’t think there’s time for that. We should get back to the game.”

The other three jumped back to their characters meandering the gameplay area on tiny tricycles.

“Right,” Travis said. “But don’t think we’ve forgotten about this.”

“I’m going to destroy you all,” Abby said.

Mia watched as Bowser, Toad, Toadette, and Yoshi cycled their tiny bikes down the raceway.

She glanced between Kamden’s face and Bowser who was in last place.

“Come on honey,” she cheered. “Get that gorgeous butt across the finish line.”

She heard snickers from the rest of the group but her cheers didn’t help. Abby crossed the finish line first and Kamden was still in last place.

She pouted her lips and laid her arm across his shoulders. “You really are terrible at video games. At least you’re pretty.”

Her claim was proven as she watched the standings and Bowser was in fourth with a pitiful 22 coins, compared to Abby in first with 84 coins.

“He hasn’t exactly played video games much since he was a kid,” Travis said.

Mia popped the other Kit Kat in her mouth. “Let me guess. With your sister, right?”

“I don’t generally have time for games lately.”

“I know. You’re big and important. In many ways,” she said, winking.

The group laughed uproariously and Austin said, “I see what you mean about the grumpy embarrassed look.”

“Excuse me for a moment,” Kamden said. “Mia, could I have a word with you?”

“Are you admitting defeat?” Abby asked.

“No. This will only take a moment. I almost forgot to discuss something about tomorrow with Mia.”

She grabbed his hand for good measure as they stepped outside.

“So what’s up?” she asked, popping another Kit Kat in her mouth.

He looked toward the group, seemingly satisfied that no one was listening. “It’s about these…comments.”

“Comments?” she asked, pursing her lips.

“About me. About my…”

Mia’s mind clicked. “That’s why you’ve been so weird and awkward?! Because I saw you naked?!”

He shushed her. “Yes.”

She lowered her voice to a whisper. “But I’m supposed to be your girlfriend. Now it will be more believable that I’ve seen…it. Him. Are you one of those guys who names it?” Mia laughed when she saw him blush. “Really? I knew you were a bit high strung but all guys take pride in that.”

“In what, exactly?”

“Being caught with their pants down. ‘Let’s them show off to girls’, you know?”

He took a step towards her and looked her directly in the eyes. “Is that what you think men talk about? Their escapades with showing themselves off to women?”

Mia thought back to her previous relationships. Especially that Kobe beef guy, though that could hardly be called a relationship. He appeared at her door after one date in a trench coat that definitely was not tied properly. And that guy who whipped it out in the car when taking her home on the third date. And the dick pics from multiple other men.

“Well, yeah.”

An expression passed over his face that she couldn’t quite read and was gone before she could even guess. “I assure you that anyone who exposes themselves like that is not worthy of your time.”

“Of course. I already knew that.”

“And you thought I was one of those people?”

Any fight Mia had faded and Kamden looked a bit dejected as well. She hadn’t really connected those two dots. “No. Of course not. I guess I just thought it would be something you would…take pride in? No.” She seemed to be talking more to herself than to him at that point. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose but, maybe a happy accident for you? Something to put in the spank bank?” She immediately regretted her words when she saw his embarrassed look and it reflected on her own face. “Not that you would think of me like that. I mean this whole thing is just…” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “pretend.”

He looked away. “Yes. Of course.” He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to have put you in that position and if I gave any indication that I am the kind of person who would take pride in that-”

“No. Of course you wouldn’t. It’s just my bad relationship mojo that’s clouding my judgement. You have been very respectable.” She looked at her hands and back at him. “So, we’re okay?”

His lips turned up just a bit. “Yes. We’re okay.”

“Good. And I’ll ease up on the comments.”

“I appreciate that. I’m not ordinarily used to…that.”

“I guess I did push it a bit too much. Sorry.”

“That’s alright. Should we go back inside?”

A third voice broke the moment. “And what are you doing out here, Kam?”

Kamden turned and Mia could have sworn she heard a low growl from his throat. “Jason. You’re here.”

The guy, Jason, was standing across the courtyard. As he stepped a bit more into light, Mia recognized him. Well, not him exactly but she recognized his type. A brand new shiny watch on his wrist that probably cost more than a year of her rent, a suit that fit way too well to be off the rack, slicked back pale hair, and there was something about his voice that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Of course. Couldn’t possibly miss Bunny’s wedding.”

“Well, Bunny’s inside. What brings you out here?”

As if in answer, he lifted the cigarette in his hand up to his lip and took a long drag. “Just needed a little something before I greet everyone.” He smiled slightly, but an almost twisted one, before saying, “So who’s this? Surely not any of our cousins.”

“No. This is Mia, my girlfriend.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed. “Girlfriend. How lovely,” he said in a way definitely wasn’t lovely to Mia. He took a step towards her. All she could smell was his cigarette. “I heard through the grapevine that Kam actually brought a date. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Jason, but most people call me Ace.”

 _Sure they did,_ Mia thought. She fought the urge to step away and forced a smile instead. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“How did this fucker manage to get someone as lovely as you?”

Lovely. Why did he keep saying it like that? It made her skin crawl. “He didn’t _get_ me. He talked to me. Like a person.” She fought to keep the sarcasm out of her voice but it was getting harder the longer he looked at her.

He tried to shake it off. “Come on now. Don’t peg me like that. Kam knows I’m a good guy.” He turned towards Kamden and punched him in the shoulder a bit too hard for it to be affectionate. “Even though I’m better looking than him. And older. And smarter. And-”

“I think she gets the idea,” Kamden said.

Oh she got the idea alright. This Jason was a grade A douche. At least some guys hid their douchery out of some kind of initial politeness. This guy just let it all hang out.

He winked at Mia. “I think she does.” He took one last drag, flicked his cigarette and walked inside. “I’ll see you two in a bit.”

Once he was out of earshot, she turned back to Kamden. “That guy is related to Bunny?”

“Yes. Hard to believe, I know. It’s a bit of a long story.”

Mia noticed his white knuckles and put her hand over his. “Short version?” she asked cheerfully.

His fists seemed to relax a bit. “Fell in with the wrong crowd in high school. Pretty sure he started dealing but I could never prove it. He had too much spare cash for it to be anything else. We applied for the same opening at a prestigious law firm and he got it. Still thinks he’s superior because of it, even though I was considered for the job at 22 and he was 26. I don’t think he’ll ever let me forget it.”

“What a shitty personality to base yourself off of.”

Kamden let out a laugh. “I agree. Admittedly, he’s not usually that brazen around people. But I suppose the fact that you’re here with me changed things for him.”

“Sorry if I came across a bit sarcastic with him. I hope it doesn’t cause problems later. I just really hate guys like that.”

“No. Not at all. I appreciate it. He usually turns up the charm for women he finds attractive. Anyone who desires to be more than a trophy girlfriend can see past it though. He hides it a little better around the family and at work.”

“Kamden!” a voice called from inside. A head popped out. It was Abby. “Are you two done out here? It’s been your turn for ages and Travis says it’s cheating if I take your turn and deliberately screw you over.”

-

The Mario Party game ended abysmally for Kamden. Abby won with three stars and 78 coins. Kamden finished last with 1 star and 18 coins. Tori was playing Jenga with a few people Mia forgot the names of, leaving Mia to wonder what to do next. Jason stood in a far corner of the room, drinking a beer and socializing. She made a mental note to avoid that side of the room.

Then, Kamden took her hand and pointed across the room. “I think someone is trying to get your attention.”

Sure enough, Bunny was waving, trying to get Mia’s attention. She almost hadn’t noticed through all the activity.

“I’m so happy you’re free,” she exclaimed as they approached. “Mia, we have to play DDR.”

Mia twisted one of her fingers in her other hand. “I haven’t played in years.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure you’ll be great.” Before Mia could protest, she was dragged onto the mats. But she couldn’t help the smile on her face. Bunny’s happiness was infectious and after a few rounds of DDR, she almost forgot about Jason and his sliminess.

After round four, Mia held up a hand to Bunny. “I think I need a break. I’m not as in shape as I used to be.”

Bunny laughed, a little out of breath herself. “Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t’ve done heavy mode.”

Mia picked up her shoes and glanced around for a place to put them back on. She hoped to use Kamden as a ballast but Matthew pulled him into a game that she didn’t know. “That was probably a bad choice,” she laughed. “But keep going. I’ll just get some fresh air.”

She didn’t realize how warm she was until she stepped out onto the patio. The evening breeze was cool and she let it caress the sweat on her skin. She shuddered as the sweat turned almost cold on her skin but it felt damn nice.

When she looked up to see if she could see any stars, she heard raised voices. Not wanting to be seen eavesdropping, she crouched behind a bush. The voices sounded a bit distant, maybe from across the courtyard.

“Mom, I don’t see the big deal.”

“You think a pregnancy scare is no big deal?”

“I barely knew her.”

Mia risked a peek through the bushes. She could just make out Kam’s Aunt Julia who she met the prior night. She was with Jason but she almost didn’t recognize his voice. It was different, less self-assured, but he still sounded like he was trying to be confident.

“You think that makes it better? If you got a girl pregnant, you would just abandon her?”

“It’s her problem.”

Mia winced. Looking down she realized her much her fingernails were digging in to her palms. That ass. She wanted to burst in to their conversation and yell at him or punch him. Something. Anything to make him shut up.

“Why can’t you get your head out of your ass and settle down? Look at Kamden. He found a lovely girl. Maybe if you calmed down your stupid ego a bit, you could find someone too.”

Jason scoffed. “Yeah right mom. He probably hired her, which means he’s not allowed to touch her. It’s sad.”

The anger that Mia had been building settled with Jason’s words as a light bulb went off. Yelling at him, while incredibly satisfying, wasn’t quite enough. And another plan formed in her head.

-

The game room was in full swing. There was a trio singing into one mic to Lady Gaga, a new group was playing Mario Kart, and a heated game of Catan was building in the corner. But those people didn’t matter right now. She needed to find Kamden.

Last she saw him, he was playing something with Matthew and Zack so she started there.

“Kamden? He went to the bathroom,” Matthew replied.

Zack made some kind of teasing comment but she was on a mission and didn’t hear him. She ducked into the hall and promptly ran into his large chest.

He reached out to grab her arms and steady her and she was left dizzy for a moment.

“Mia?”

She recovered quickly. “Good. You’re here.” She pushed him back into the hallway.

“What is it?” She realized how flustered she must have seemed for him to look at her with such concern.

“I found out something that I think you’re going to like.”

“And what is that?”

“Well,” she began, ready to explain what she heard outside. But then she heard Jason’s voice in the main room. And he was asking where Kamden was. “No time. Play along.”

Before he could say or do anything, she grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him down into a kiss.

She knew Jason would come around the corner. She just didn’t know when. She had to make this last. She wrapped her arms around his neck and resisted the urge to open her eyes and peek.

His lips were soft. Surprisingly so. She wasn’t sure why she expected them to be rough. His arms came around her waist and pulled her closer to him. His chest was strong against hers and she didn’t think there was a sliver of daylight between them.

She heard footsteps come closer and resisted the urge even more to look. Instead, she pulled Kamden closer and stuck her tongue in his mouth.

Sure enough, after a moment, she heard footsteps leaving, slightly angrier than they arrived and she figured they were safe now. She pulled away and looked at him.

His face looked different. She couldn’t quite read his expression but her eyes drifted back to his lips. He tasted good. He was a damn good kisser. She licked her lips.

He spoke first. “So…I take it that was part of your plan?”


	6. Chapter 6

Mia and Kamden stood in the awkward silence as Mia processed her thoughts. She glanced up at him and looked away. Why was she thinking about the way he kissed?

“Mia,” he said to get her attention. She finally looked him in the eyes again. “I asked if that was part of the plan.”

Mia bit her lip. “Yes.”

He cleared his throat and spoke plainly. “And was there something specific you hoped to achieve with it?”

It was as if Mia was pulled back to reality. Right. Yes. This was part of a plan. She lowered her voice to a whisper and told him the argument she overheard in the garden as well as her plan.

Kamden’s face was unreadable. “So your plan is to increase the amount of physical contact we show?”

“Yes.”

“For the plan?”

“Yes.”

He cupped his chin and after a long moment he said, “I’m in.”

Mia grinned nervously. She could do this. She was an actress. She could handle it. And that was all this weekend was, acting, right?

The two walked back into the room, hand in hand. Excited eyes seemed to follow them as they walked over to where Bunny was setting up Twister. It was as if every person in the room saw Mia shove her tongue into Kamden’s mouth and was equally excited about the prospect that there would be another wedding in the future.

When Bunny saw them approach, she was practically bubbling with glee. Mia felt a pang of guilt. She thought this weekend was going to be making some small talk with relatives, a few dances, and that would be it. She wasn’t expecting to have so much fun. And she didn’t expect to connect with Bunny so much. She would feel bad when Kamden would inevitably tell her that they broke up.

“Good. You two are back. We’re going to play Twister. You should join in!”

“Bunny, we already have four of us,” a cousin remarked. Heidi, if Mia remembered correctly.

“It’s alright,” Kamden said, hesitantly wrapping an arm around Mia’s waist but he got more comfortable as he pulled her closer to him. “We can watch.”

As he pulled her into him, Mia slid her arm around his waist too. It was weird. Physical contact with him wasn’t weirding her out as much anymore. It actually started to feel kind of natural. And _that_ was weird.

The Twister game began with Austin calling the spinner. The two watched as Bunny, Matthew, Heidi, and Abby became an entangled mess of limbs. Mia watched Matthew surprisingly get into it. She already pegged him as a bit more serious but it seemed as if Bunny brought out his fun side. She smiled. Even though she didn’t know them very well, they seemed well matched. She watched Bunny’s face get close enough to Matthew’s to quickly kiss him and then her hand flew to blue, which considerably tangled her arms.

“Bunny! Matthew!” a voice could be heard over the crowd.

It was Amy. Mia watched as she weaved through the crowd of people to the game of Twister.

“Your mother is on the phone with your florist. Something about the bouquets not being big enough?”

Bunny looked at Amy from between her legs due to her awkward position. “Shoot. I should go check on this. Mom’s been wanting huge bouquets for a while now. I was going to win this game too.” She bit her lip before her eyes found Mia (not easy considering the angle that her head was at). “Mia! Tag in.”

“What?”

“Win this for me.” She held out a hand.

“Okay,” she agreed, and high fived her.

As the two switched places, Matthew spoke up as well. “I better go too.” His eyes quickly found Kamden. “Tag in, will you?”

Kamden refused but Bunny smacked his arm. “You’re his best man. This is part of your job.”

He flicked Bunny’s forehead. “You’re lucky you’re a bride this weekend. Otherwise I could say no to you.”

“You couldn’t say no to me anyways,” she said, sticking her tongue out.

Matthew pulled himself out from the pile and quickly informed Kamden where he was before disappearing with Bunny.

Kamden slipped his shoes off and stepped onto the mat. Mia’s arm was against Abby’s and her leg was underneath Heidi’s back. Despite not knowing either of them very well, the physical contact didn’t matter. But as Kamden slipped between her and the other two to get into place, Mia was acutely aware of how his leg brushed her arm as he reached for red. And how his bare arm brushed her ankle as he situated onto blue. Even as he settled into place, his arm still sat against her ankle.

As Abby shifted her right foot onto green, she wobbled but stayed upright. Mia had to shift her left hand onto a different red spot and grunted as she made the awkward switch. Kamden removed his arm from Mia’s ankle to switch to a yellow spot and she found her ankle was oddly cold in his absence.

It was Heidi’s turn next and as she reached her arm, she toppled and lost balance, taking Abby with her. Abby was somewhere between laughing and blaming Heidi for the failure. Fortunately, Mia was on the other side of Kamden and he held strong to his position when Abby fell and bumped into him.

So now, it was only the two of them on the board and Mia laughed when she got a better look of his position.

“What’s so funny?”

“You look like a crab. Except you’re facing up. You’re like an upside down crab.”

Kamden smirked slightly. “At least I don’t look like a cat who’s trying to keep balance.”

She supposed it was true. She was facing down, her arms crossed and her legs wide apart.

“Mia, right hand yellow.”

She stared around her legs. Anything that was yellow was on the other side of Kamden and she debated if it would be better to go under or over him. Deciding that his chest was too big to reach over, she crouched and reached under his back, brushing it in the process. He seemed to tense a bit.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not trying to knock you over.”

He looked over at her, a playful smile on his face. “I’d like to see you try.”

“I don’t cheat. There is no pride in winning by cheating.”

He raised his eyebrows playfully as if to say ‘Are you sure about that?’

Her hand found yellow underneath his back and she adjusted her balance.

“Kamden, right foot red.”

His right foot was currently on blue and the closest red spot had Mia’s left foot on it. He adjusted, and his right foot slid by Mia’s to get to the next red spot. Almost half of his body was underneath her and she ignored the tingle that it seemed to bring.

“Mia, right foot green.”

She gaped. “That’s on the other side of the board!”

“We don’t argue with the spinner,” Austin said. “We just do what it says.”

Mia surveyed her position. Her right arm was under Kamden’s back and his right foot was underneath her legs. She took a deep breath and channeled any remaining dance training she remembered. With a stretch and a thud, her right foot landed on green and the growing crowd let out a cheer.

“Hurry!” she yelled. “My leg is cramping.”

“Kamden, left hand blue.”

With his right hand already on blue, Mia watched him adjust again and shift his weight so his torso was brushing her shoulder. She tried not to think about it and put all of her attention on making sure the cramp in her leg didn’t completely atrophy.

A few more turns passed and the muscles in Mia’s leg calmed as she shifted positions.

“Kamden, left foot red.”

His foot swung around and his whole body flipped to make the spot, which put him face to face with Mia, which meant that she stopped breathing for a moment.

She wasn’t sure if time stopped or if Austin was purposefully delaying the next call. She had a feeling the crowd was enjoying this. Then she remembered her plan, just in case Jason was watching. She remembered Bunny and Matthew when they played and she got an idea.

“Mia, right hand yellow.”

Her hand was still under his back but since he was so close, she could switch positions and get her arm over him, instead. Slowly, she pulled her hand away, went over Kamden and was practically on top of him. As she went, she planted another kiss on him and the crowd sounded like they were the audience of a sitcom.

But that faded into the back of her mind when her lips connected with his again. He was damn good at these fake kisses. She wondered what a real kiss from him would be like.

Where did that thought come from?

She pulled away, not letting her girlfriend mask slip for a moment. “Just a consolation prize because I’m going to win this.”

“Right hand blue.”

Kamden easily shifted into position and grinned.

“Right hand green.”

Mia pouted. Her left hand was on red and the reach for her right hand to get to yellow wasn’t too bad. But green was just that much farther away. She reached and in that one moment, lost her balance and toppled over on Kamden.

After the momentary recovery, she realized her position, on top of his very firm chest. It felt nice and in that moment she wanted him to wrap his arms around her.

She shook her head, remembering herself.

“What was that about you winning?” he asked playfully as he kissed her forehead. Her skin tingled where he kissed her.

“Okay,” Abby said, “Get off of the mat lovebirds. That was an embarrassing loss. I want a rematch.”

Mia tried to control the blush she could feel on her cheek. She pulled off of him carefully. He got to his feet as soon as he was free but he held out a hand. She placed her hand in it but when she stood up, her leg gave out and she fell back into Kam’s chest.

Most of the crowd already went back to their own games but the few remaining made comments that she couldn’t quite hear. She laughed and shook out her leg. “I think I have permanent muscle damage now. Maybe I’ll go check out the karaoke machine again.”

Now that the night was deep into full swing, the karaoke machine hadn’t been touched much. Everyone had been pulled into one game or another. She scanned the crowd for Tori and she was having fun with a game of Mario Party.

Mia scrolled through the songs and found one of her faves for karaoke. Smiling, she hit play.

As the intro began, a few ears perked up, especially once the harmonica started.

“It’s 9:00 on a Saturday,” she sang.

Sure enough, heads popped up from the games they were playing but no one was bothered by it and a few voices started to join in as they recognized the Billy Joel song.

“Well we’re in the mood for a melody, and you’ve got us feeling alright.”

A few people started swaying and Mia started conducting them with her free hand.

“Oh, la la la, di da da la la, di da da da dum.”

She caught sight of Kam. He was glancing around the room at the swaying mass and looked back at her with a smile, which made her smile even wider.

On the last chorus, she waved her hand to conduct the group and they sang even louder. She could even see that Kamden was singing along. A thought crossed her mind to record him for blackmail but the thought disappeared as quickly as it came.

As the music faded, the crowd cheered and a few tried to keep it going by repeating the chorus. She laughed and bowed before jumping from the tiny stage.

Another girl about her age waited on the side. She was shorter, had long dark hair, and a shirt with a glittery unicorn. Mia knew she met her earlier.

“Hey Cali,” she said, remembering her name at the last moment. “You want a turn?”

“If you’re done and if they have ‘Holding out for a Hero.’ I need to bug Nicole with it.”

Mia shrugged and handed off the mic. She had to go to the bathroom anyways.

As she exited the bathroom into the hallway, she almost ran into a chest. For a moment she thought it was Kamden, come to congratulate her on her performance. But as her eyes drifted up, she knew Kamden wasn’t wearing a suit tonight. Only one person tonight would.

“Lovely performance up there,” Jason said. She tried to sidestep him but he kept moving into her way.

When it was clear that he wasn’t going to move, she crossed her arms. “I know.”

“Almost as good as your performance with Kamden.”

She knew what he was referencing to but she had to play dumb, as if she hadn’t overheard the conversation in the garden. “What are you talking about?”

“You really expect me to believe that you two are together? He hasn’t seriously dated anyone in years.”

Her brows pushed together. Really? “Yeah, that’s the thing about time,” she said slowly, as if she was speaking to a child. “It passes. Things change. What the fuck does it matter to you?”

He clicked his tongue, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not very ladylike language now is that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Is there a purpose to this conversation or are you going to block my way all night for fun?”

“Whatever he’s paying, I’ll pay you double to admit the truth.”

“Is that what you think?” Somehow hearing it directed at her made it worse than when she overheard it. She knew he was garbage but she didn’t think he would actually admit his suspicions to her face. “That the only way I would be here with him is if he paid me? Well let me enlighten you, you reprehensible fuck waffle. That man has more compassion in his pinky than you have in your whole body and the shit you buy to show off to make up for your serious lack of a personality.”

The reprehensible fuck waffle part seemed to take him by surprise and she took the opportunity to push past him back into the room.

“I’ll prove it,” he called after her.

Mia sauntered back into the room. She needed to play her cards carefully. She couldn’t overcompensate since that would make Jason more suspicious.

She glanced around the room for Kamden but she couldn’t see him. She thought about looking for him but figured that would border to close to the overcompensating line. She did look over her shoulder at one point to see what Jason was up to but he was gone.

Luckily, Kamden was the one who found her.

“Sorry I disappeared. Bunny sent me an SOS text to intervene with mom’s conversation with the florist. Did I miss anything?” he asked. He automatically wrapped a hand around her waist and she was glad that it created the exact cover she needed.

She stretched to her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Your cousin is up to something. I guess he’s determined to prove this whole thing isn’t real. What is wrong with him?”

“He’s always been determined to have more than me,” he whispered into her hairline. “I suppose me being here with a happy relationship is rattling his feathers.”

“So what do we do now?”

“Act the exact same, as if nothing has changed. Anything else would be confirming it.”

She kissed his cheek and patted his chest as cover. “Sounds good.”

-

Amazingly, Jason didn’t appear for the rest of the night and Mia breathed a sigh of relief. With his disappearing act, she was able to loosen up again. Games started to fade out as people returned to visiting but they also gathered around the karaoke machine. Bunny grabbed Mia to do Summer Nights from Grease since Matthew could not be convinced to join. Mia tried even harder to get Kam up to the stage but he was equally stubborn and kept Matthew company against their extroverted partners. Instead, Travis happily took to the mic and gathered a few cousins to sing I Want it That Way.

Around 12:30, a few, drunker guests started pulling out My Heart Will Go On and I Will Always Love You and people began to disperse for the night.

Kam and Mia offered to help pack things up but Bunny shooed him with her hand. “We have lots of help. Go to bed. I know you’re crabby when you don’t get enough sleep.”

“Says the girl who would throw pillows at me if I mildly interrupted her beauty sleep.”

“And wouldn’t give them back!” She looked at Mia. “He stole my pillows for three days one time. I had use a balled up shirt as a pillow just to sleep.”

“Serves you right for using them as weapons.”

“Just go to sleep,” Bunny said. “You have a big day of best man duties tomorrow. And I have to haul a giant dress around.”

Kam’s tone changed from teasing to nostalgic. “Because you’re getting married.”

Bunny’s tone shifted to match. “Yeah, because I’m getting married.”

Kam smiled gently and pulled Bunny into a hug.

She patted his back. “It’s just a wedding you big lug. I’ll still be your little sister.”

“Yeah, you will.”

It was a touching sight that warmed Mia’s heart. It was times like this she wished she wasn’t an only child. She hoped that Bunny could help fill that void.

“Besides,” Bunny said. “With any luck, you won’t be too far behind either.”

Mia blushed and the reality of the situation hit her again. This wasn’t real, her relationship with Kam was fake. It wasn’t like Bunny could be her sister. But Kam seemed to handle it better than she did.

“Hopefully,” he said.

The two said their goodnights and Kam took Mia’s hand as they walked back to their room.

They made sure to avoid the elevator and as they got back to their room, Mia could feel the tiredness setting in. She yawned wide as Kamden opened the door.

“I suppose it was a rather eventful day,” he said, trying to stifle a yawn himself.

Mia stretched her arms over her head, her shirt rising slightly as she did so. “Mhmm. I’m going to sleep very well tonight.”

The door closed gently and Kamden turned to Mia. “Before you do, there’s something I wanted to say.”

“Oh?” Every hair on her arms seemed to stand up. His tone was soft, careful.

The air became still between them and the moment of silence seemed to drag.

“I wanted to...thank you,” he finally said. “Yes. Thank you for tonight. You were wonderful and going over the top like that really wasn’t necessary just because of Jason.”

She felt a bit deflated at his reply. What had she wanted him to say? “It’s fine, really. He got under my skin. It’s nice to show jerks like that up. It was fun. And we’ll just be prepared for whatever he does next.”

An unreadable expression passed over his face and was gone before Mia could examine it.

“Yes. I’m glad this is going so well. I thought it was going to be hell. I suppose I should be glad we got stuck in that elevator last night.”

Was that really only last night? It felt like ages ago. Well, not the elevator nightmare but the way she viewed him. Was it really only a day ago that she thought he was reprehensible? Beyond redemption?

“Yeah. I guess it was for the best. Let us see each other a little differently.”

Now, she found fun in being with him. It was enjoyable, it was easy, it was...really quite nice.

The space between them seemed to get smaller. He was staring at her in a way that she couldn’t quite read. Mia found herself looking at his parted lips, leaned forward, and slid her tongue over her own.

“Mia!” A knocking at the door pulled her out of her trance and she heard Bunny’s voice through the door. “You forgot your phone.”

The haze around her was broken as she went to the door and got back her phone from Bunny.

“Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything,” she said with a wink.

“No,” Mia stuttered. “Nothing at all.”

“Okay. I better help them finish up downstairs. Byeeeeee,” she said, disappearing back down the hall.

Mia closed the door and turned back to Kamden, who was rifling through his suitcase. “I should probably…” he trailed off, pointing at the bathroom.

“Sure, of course.”

As he disappeared into the bathroom, Mia was left with her thoughts. What had she been thinking leaning in like that? She probably completely freaked him out. Now he was avoiding her. Great job Mia.

He emerged after only a few minutes. “By the way, I thought it was only fair that you get the bed tonight.”

“What? You should-”

He smirked slightly and it stopped her in her tracks. “Like I said, you were great tonight. You performed admirably.”

“But this is your sister’s weekend. I’d hate for you to have a crappy sleep.”

He chuckled. “I’ll be fine. You’re not the only one who can sleep anywhere.” He held up a hand. “I insist.”

“Well, thank you.” Before he could say anything else, she dashed for the bathroom. “I should get ready for bed too.”

He was in the blankets of the couch when she came back out from the bathroom. His eyes were closed but as she passed by, she heard him say, “Good night, Mia.”

“Good night, Kam,” she said smiling as she slid under the covers.

As she drifted to sleep, she tried not to think of how nice her name sounded coming from him or how the sheets smelled like him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, we're already over halfway through this fic. Thank you so much to everyone who has read so far and for the comments. They really brighten my day amidst all of the craziness of the world right now. And hopefully this fic has been a bright spot to your day.

Mia’s eyes fluttered open as she stretched her arms, and marveled at how well rested she felt.

She poked the mattress and muttered to herself, “One day, when I get my big break, I’m going to buy one of you.”

She sat up, hoping she hadn’t disturbed Kamden, but the couch was empty. The blankets were tucked neatly back into the cushions and there was no sign of its occupant. Mia looked at her clock. 8:35.

Of course he would already be up. 

She shut off the alarm she had set for 8:45 and settled back into the pillows. She had ten minutes and she was going to indulge in the bed as long as she could. She texted Maggie back and scrolled through Instagram, liking photos as she went.

When 8:46 rolled around, she told herself that she had to get out of bed. Her eyes caught the curtains and she wondered if Kamden was on the balcony again. She should probably let him know that she was awake, in case he was staying out there for her benefit again. But first, she should put on some proper clothes so she wouldn’t get caught in pajamas again. No other reason.

After a quick brush of her teeth and hair, and a change of clothes, she slid open the curtains.

But he wasn’t there.

Her shoulders slumped. Damn. She could have stayed in the bed a little longer. It was still only 9:03 and she had almost a half hour until they planned to go down for breakfast. She thought about climbing back into the bed but decided against it. If she got back in now, it would be that much harder to get back out again.

Instead, she stepped out onto the patio and sat down in one of the chairs to enjoy the morning. It really was beautiful out. The sun was already bright and beaming, the sky was blue and there were hardly any clouds in the sky. It was a perfect day for a wedding. She closed her eyes and listened to the birds and relaxed again.

Which was when she heard the patio door open.

“I’m sorry,” Kamden said. “Are you still tired?”

Mia smiled and opened her eyes. “No, just relaxing. I think I had the best night sleep ever in that bed.” She looked up at him. He wore pale brown pants and a blue polo and, surprisingly, a smile. “Where were you?”

“In the business centre. I may be away this weekend but that doesn’t mean the emails stop.”

She almost forgot about his job. Of course his cases wouldn’t stop just because he was gone. Frankly, she found it hard to see him as some kind of cut throat lawyer lately. He was just, well, Kamden. Fun, competitive, sarcastic, mini donut loving Kamden. But he was a lawyer, and a damn good one at that, judging by his car alone.

“Of course,” she replied. “I guess on the weekends, law doesn’t…stop.”

“No, law doesn’t stop.” He put his hands in his pockets but not in any kind of embarrassed way. She could only describe it as a power pose. 

“Well, I hope they can close soon?” She wasn’t sure why she phrased it as a question. She wanted it to sound hopeful and caring.

“Thank you. Sometimes I wish some of my cases were a bit more cut and dry.”

“If you want, you could talk it out with me. See if you missed anything.”

“I appreciate that but I can’t divulge client information.”

“Oh,” Mia replied, feeling a little dejected. “Okay.”

“But I can tell you that it involves working around some people who know the law very well and have very convenient excuses.”

“That could be anything,” she said, a slight smile back on her face.

“Exactly. That’s every case.”

She paused, unsure of what else to say. Clearly he was very tight lipped about work. But then she mentally smacked herself for the most obvious question she could ask

“So today is the day. Are you excited for the wedding?”

“It’s sure to be an eventful day to say the least.”

“I never asked…” she trailed off, wondering what his answer would be. “You and Matthew have been best friends for years. What was it like when he started dating your sister?”

Kamden chuckled at the memory. “Messy. I didn’t take to it too well at first. Matthew was around quite a bit in our teenage years. Bunny thought Matthew was a dork because why else would he be friends with me? I was just her dorky older brother so anyone who wanted to be my friend must be a dork as well. Bunny called him an idiot and Matthew called her bun head. Then, somewhere along the way, they got to know each other. Matthew asked me for permission before they had their first date. I thought he was joking. When he didn’t laugh and I realized he was serious, I tackled him. Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was being moronic and let them go on their date. And now, here they are.”

“You never stopped wanting to protect your sister, do you?”

“She spent so many years trying to protect me. And it’s my job to do that as a big brother.”

“Well, they seem very happy together.”

“I know. Even though Bunny is incapable of being unhappy, I see how much happier she is with Matthew. He’s had a hard life. Her positivity is good for him and he keeps her grounded.”

“And when she needs some sense knocked into him, she can call her big brother,” Mia said.

It was as if she pulled from a reverie. He came back to the present and looked at her. “And then she can call her big brother,” he echoed.

-

There was an absolutely amazing breakfast buffet waiting for them when they arrived downstairs. Freshly made pancakes with choice of fruit compote, the most amazingly fluffy scrambled eggs, in house made sausage, and a cereal bar all enticed Mia. Family and friends piled up their plates slowly as they visited with the next person in line. Mia loaded her plate with scrambled eggs and pancakes, topping them with plump blackberries and powdered sugar.

Kamden sensibly took eggs, toast, and a glass of juice.

“No coffee?” she asked.

“They’re all out. Evidently one of their shelving units broke last night and their coffee supply ended up on the floor.”

“Can you survive without coffee?”

He smiled. “I’ve managed so far.”

There was something about his smile. It was wider than usual. “So I take it you had a good morning before I woke up? Or are you just that excited for your sister’s wedding day?”

They settled down at a table for two. “I think excited is the wrong word to describe your little sister’s wedding. But yes, I did have a good morning. I received some information this morning that should be very helpful to one of my cases.”

She lifted her mug of Earl Grey tea. “Well, cheers to that,” she said and she clinked her mug against his juice.

“Thank you. I’ll need to follow up on a few details this morning to make sure everything pans out smoothly. It shouldn’t take me long. I’m sorry that leaves you on your own for a bit.

She waved a fork full of pancakes. “That’s fine. I’m sure I can entertain myself for a bit. Feel free to use the room if you want.”

Kamden’s eyes brightened. “Thank you. That would be helpful.”

People Mia met throughout the weekend stopped by for a quick hello and they greeted them between bites of breakfast. They were the usual pleasantries and a few jabs at Kamden for his abysmal video game performance the previous night. Between visitors, Mia excused herself to get just one more incredibly fluffy pancake.

It was nice to see Kamden so happy. And it was strange that his good mood seemed to be affecting her own. She felt lighter as she walked back to the breakfast bar and grabbed a few extra blackberries for good measure. At the last moment she decided to grab another cup of tea. As she popped in a bag, she heard voices from around the corner. She shrugged them off but as she filled up her cup with hot water, she heard her own name. She tried to hear what they were saying but it was too hard to make out. She was so focused on what the voices were saying that she didn’t notice how full her cup was. Hot water splashed over the edge and brought her back to reality. She placed the cup down and sucked on the mild burn.

She knew she should walk away but she was curious. Who was talking about her? And why?

She stepped closer until the voices were clear. An older man and woman, likely one of Kamden’s aunts and uncles.

“I’m not quite sure I understand it either. She’s not very successful, is she?”

“It doesn’t seem like it. I wonder what they see in each other.”

“Well, it’s obvious what she sees in him.”

“A shame really. Kamden could do so much better.”

Mia clamped her lips. They _were_ talking about her.

Any excitement she had faded. She gathered her tea and plate and walked back to the table. She tried to harness that excitement from before but thought she saw Kamden eye her suspiciously as they greeted other guests.

When both of their plates were clear, they stood to leave.

“Do you need anything from the room?”

“No thanks,” she replied. “I’ll be fine. I think I’ll go for a walk.”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I’m done.” To keep up appearances, he bent down and kissed her cheek. Was it her imagination or did he pause there? No. It was probably her stupid, overactive imagination. She nodded.

He pulled away and yawned. “I’ll see you later then.”

“Try and stay awake,” she laughed, trying to keep up the cheery act and watched him walk away. It lasted just long enough for him to turn the corner and out of sight.

-

It was a beautiful day. It really was. She tried to capture that same sense of calm that she had on the balcony that morning but she couldn’t capture it. Instead, the same words of unworthiness circled in her head. How dare they? Just because she was a receptionist, that didn’t mean she was less worthy of someone’s time. A receptionist could date anyone they wanted. _She_ could date anyone she wanted.

But then, she wasn’t even a receptionist.

What would they think of her if they knew she was just a lowly barista? She always told herself that being a barista was no less deserving of respect than any other job. But it didn’t have quite the same punch as it did when she would sometimes get down on herself. It was like that customer who yelled in her face because she was under the impression that her drink was made with the wrong kind of dairy.

_“This is why you’ll never succeed in the world, horrible mistakes like this! Do you think anyone would hire you when you try to poison your customers?! You’ll never amount to anything and it’s no surprise. This is what happens when you don’t finish high school!_

Just the memory of it left Mia’s hands shaking. She never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly before. But all she could do was smile and nod and definitely not punch a customer, as much as she wanted to.

She could only listen to the woman’s degrading rant as she remade the woman’s drink _exactly_ the same as before because she knew she made it right the first time. She barked orders at Mia despite clearly not knowing how any of the machines actually worked. Mia made it exactly the same and the woman declared it was made properly before sweeping out without so much as a thank you.

That night, Mia promised herself that she would never let anyone make her feel like that again. But here she was, feeling angry and shitty all over again.

No. She lifted her head. She told herself she wasn’t going to feel that way again and damn it she was going to stick to that. She would talk with Kamden about it and they could come up with an action plan. After all, they came up with great plans so far. And she was going to be the best girlfriend ever. Starting with finding him coffee.

-

Mia wasn’t sure why she felt the need to tip toe in the hall. She wouldn’t need to tip toe until she got to their room, just in case he was in the middle of an important call or something. She even scribbled a note on a napkin to leave for him in case he couldn’t talk.

She slid the key card and opened the door as cautiously as she could. He was working on his laptop and didn’t even look up as she entered. He was staring incredibly intently at his screen and the friendliness she saw in his eyes earlier was gone. It was a steely gaze that she supposed he developed when he went into lawyer mode. It wasn’t until she was five feet away that he actually noticed her and she jumped when his eyes turned to her.

“Sorry to disturb you. I just thought you would like some coffee.”

“They got that back in quickly.”

“Oh, it’s actually from a cafe a couple blocks away.”

The cup stopped partway to his lips and he looked back at Mia. “You bought this?”

“Of course. It’s not like they were giving it away for free.”

“You remember that I said I would pay for everything this weekend.”

Mia waved him off. “It’s fine. It’s just a cup of coffee.”

“You don’t understand," he said. His voice was cold, colder than she had ever heard it, even through all of their arguments. "You broke the deal.” 

Why did he have to sound so condescending? He started to sound like those relatives of his. “What’s the problem?” she demanded, raising her voice.

“The problem is a breach of contract.”

“Breach of contract, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the respect for an agreement, which you are clearly not understanding. That’s what I’m talking about!”

Mia could feel her hands shake and remembered the promise she made to herself. “Fine. Then don’t take it!” She slammed the napkin down, took the coffee out of his hands and threw it in the garbage without looking at him.

Before he could say anything else to insult her, she stormed out.

-

Mia didn’t know where to go. Tears fell but she couldn’t let anyone see them. She tried to rub them away. She couldn’t let anyone see that she was upset if they wanted to maintain their happy fake relationship.

She stopped. But why should she care? _He_ made her feel that exact same way his narrow minded relatives did. Why should she try to salvage that? And it would save everyone the energy of them breaking up later.

Fully resolved, she turned to walk downstairs but as she turned the corner, she ran straight into Bunny.

Both women stumbled and Mia was the first to recover. “Bunny, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?”

Bunny was clearly in the midst of getting ready, with a head full of curls but a face bare of makeup. After assuring that the candy bowl in her hands was alright, she looked up at Mia. “Yes, I’m fine. I…Mia, what’s wrong?”

Despite her worry for Bunny now taking up the forefront of her mind, it was clear that the tears on Mia's face hadn't suddenly disappeared.

“I-I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“No. No it’s not.” Bunny took a long moment to survey her. “Come on.”

Before Mia could respond, Bunny had her by the wrist and pulled her in the opposite direction down the hallway. For such a small person, she could certainly tap into some strength when she wanted to.

She knocked on one of the suite doors. “It’s me. I forgot my key.”

Amy opened the door. “Bunny, you really need to be more…” but when her eyes saw Mia, her voice trailed off.

Bunny pulled her in. “We’ll just be a few minutes,” she called out.

As Bunny pulled her into the bathroom, Mia could see Naomi at the vanity along with two hairdressers. But she only got a quick look before Bunny shut the door. She sat Mia on the edge of the tub and sat across from her on the toilet

“Okay, what happened?”

Mia stayed quiet and tried to blink away the tears that still swam in her eyes. She looked up at Bunny who was waiting with patient eyes and an outstretched bar of chocolate.

“Thanks,” Mia said, taking the candy bar and quickly unwrapping it.

“Mia, it’s okay. You can tell me what that idiot brother of mine did.”

Mia paused, mid-bite. “How did you know?”

“I ran into him this morning when he was going back and forth to the business center. I gave him a bad time for working on my wedding day. He said he would be done with plenty of time to walk down the aisle. I know there are a few cases that he’s been working really hard on and I know the only reason he would be working today is if it was really important.” She settled back and placed the candy bowl on the counter. “The thing is, when Kamden gets really focused on something, he can act like a huge jerk when things go wrong. Not that I’m trying to excuse it. If he was one of my students, he would be getting the longest time out known to Kindergarten.”

Mia laughed, despite herself and took another bite of her chocolate bar. “I haven’t really…seen that side of him”

Bunny nodded, knowing what she meant. “He’s gotten better at controlling it over the years. Back in high school, he was studying for SATs and snapped at me for interrupting his flow.”

“At you? I can’t imagine anyone getting angry at you.”

“Well, he did. When I started crying, he realized what he said and apologized. Then he did my chores for a week and took me out to a girly movie to make it up to me.” She leaned forward and took Mia’s arm. “He says stupid things sometimes and gets really involved in what he’s doing. I think it has something to do with the whole adopted thing, not like I would ever tell him that. It was like he always had something to prove. But I always told him that I just wanted him to have tea parties together.”

That got a bit of a smile out of Mia. “Tea parties?”

“When my parents adopted him, he was always so sad. To my seven year old brain, tea parties would make him feel better because they made me feel better. So every day for at least a month, we would get home from school, and I would force him into my room for a tea party. Then, one day I saw some mean kids telling him that his real parents didn’t want him and that’s why he was adopted.”

“He told me about that. You stood up to his bullies.

“I did. I just didn’t want him to be sad anymore. After that day, he started smiling a little more, even though I know the bullying didn’t stop. But it helped. I think that was when he knew he was with us to stay. But it also meant that he wanted to prove something, that he was good enough for us. That’s why I think you’re good for him.”

“Really?” Mia asked.

“Yeah. I mean, I know we don’t know each other well but you're fun. And you don’t seem to be driven by success in the same way that he is.”

“What do you mean?”

“He needs someone who works to live, not live to work. Not that I’m trying to say that you’re not ambitious or don’t like working or anything. He just needs someone whose sole focus isn’t work. Someone who will remind him of what should be important in life. I can’t remember the last time I talked to him without work coming up. It consumes him a little too much. And then, when he think he might be close to failure, he lashes out. I bet that’s what happened. He probably got some really bad news about one of his cases and you were there at the wrong time. Again, not that it excuses him. I still plan to put him in some kind of time out. He usually just secludes himself until he finds a solution or can yell about it to the air until he gets the initial stress out. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Thank you.”

“I was really excited to meet you this weekend. He doesn’t date much and he needs someone to keep him from completely stressing himself out. But if that hard side of him is too much for you, I would completely understand. Maybe you’re just too good for him.”

Mia didn’t realize she was crying until she took another bite of the chocolate bar and realized how salty it tasted. She looked back at Bunny. Her hair was pulled into an elegant bun of curls and Mia realized what she was doing.

“I’m so sorry,” Mia said. “This is your wedding day. This shouldn’t be about me. This day is all about you and I’m ruining it. I should go.”

Bunny smiled so sweet and gentle and shook her head. “Not at all.” Her playful tone returned as she continued, “Stay as long as you want. If you need a place to just get away from him for a bit, you’re welcome to stay. Then, if you want, give him a chance to apologize. And make sure he takes you on some extra special dates to make up for it.”

Mia smiled and took Bunny's hand. “Thank you.”

She pulled Mia into a hug. “And if he’s ever mean to you, you let me know. I’ll call him and yell at him.”

A laugh burst from Mia’s lips. “I may take you up on that. I’m sorry to interrupt your morning. I should go.”

“It’s totally fine. Besides, this will be a great story to tell at your wedding. You know, if it works out.”

Mia laughed again. Bunny’s enthusiasm really was infectious. It could make anyone see the best in the world. And that was the kind of positivity she needed.

With another hug for a little extra courage, Mia left.

She walked down the hall back to their room and wondered what she would say. She figured that she owed him a chance to apologize and explain himself. After all, she was wrong about him once. But she couldn’t quite face their room quite yet. Without Bunny beside her, a bit of the confidence she felt disappeared. She needed to stop. She needed to think.

After another trip to the same cafe she visited that morning, more carbs in her stomach helped. They sat like a warm, comfy cushion in her stomach. With renewed strength and Bunny’s words repeating in her ears, she returned to the hotel.

With a deep breath, she slid her key card in the door and pushed it open. “Kamden?”

There was no answer.

She stepped inside. His laptop still sat open but went into sleep mode, judging by the blank screen. He didn’t seem like someone who wouldn’t put away his stuff properly.

She poked her head onto the balcony but he wasn’t there either.

All of the confidence she built up on the way back was sinking again. She sank onto the couch. What now?

She heard the lock click and automatically stood up.

“Mia?”

Her voice came out quieter than she intended. “I’m here.”

He came into view and Mia held a breath. He stopped just outside of arm’s reach from her.

“You’re still here,” he said.

“Yeah, I’m still here. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I was starting to think that maybe you left. I couldn’t find you, you weren’t answering your phone.”

“My phone?” It was as if Mia forgot she even owned one. She didn’t even think to look at it since she stormed out. There were three missed calls from him and two texts.

_I’m so sorry. Please come back._

_I can’t find you. I assume you’re avoiding me. I am so sorry. I have no excuse for my actions._

“I…didn’t even think to check my phone.”

“Are you okay? Where did you go?”

Mia was unsure what she should say. She wanted to walk out, make a scene, leave him alone for the rest of the weekend. But she found that she was rooted to the spot and couldn’t say a word. The look in his eyes kept her there. They weren't the intense lawyer eyes anymore. They were soft, like they had been most of the weekend.

“You didn’t deserve that. My work has a tendency to bleed into my life. I’m so sorry that you were on the receiving end of it. I’m usually much better at controlling that. I sincerely apologize that you saw me at such an unfortunate time.”

“So when you talked about breach of contract…”

“Yes. That is related to the case I was working on. The lead I discovered this morning was turned upside down due to a breach of contract. I never should have taken that out on you, especially for such a kind gesture.”

Mia was silent for a long moment before saying, “I deal with customers like that at work, you know. All self-important and snappy because no one outside of themselves matter.”

He took a step towards her. “Mia…” He reached out a hand towards her but clenched his fingers into a fist. He slumped and took the last few steps to the bed where he sat down. “When I was in high school, I worked a part time job. I wanted to give something back to the parents who took me in and loved me unconditionally. I worked in a cafe, making sandwiches in a business district for people who worked late and needed a quick something to eat. I already knew I wanted to become a lawyer. I thought that in addition to give something back to my parents, it was a way to get my foot into that world. Most of them couldn’t even be bothered to look at me. That was when I decided I would never be like them. Everyone deserves respect. I am so sorry that I made you feel like that for even a moment. You are deserving of every respect.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do. I regretted the words as soon as I said them. It just took me a bit too long to knock myself out of the angry stupor I was in. By the time I left the room, I had no idea where you went. I searched the whole hotel and the grounds. When I came back in, I thought I saw you in the lobby but you were too far ahead to be sure. I’m glad you came back.”

Mia glanced up at him but found that she couldn’t smile quite yet. “I was with Bunny.”

“When did you…”

“I bumped into her in the hall after I left here. She took me back to her room and explained a few things. And that I should call her and she’ll yell at you whenever you’re a big grump.”

Kam smiled ever so gently but just for a moment. “You said that she explained some things?”

“Yeah. About why you can be such a grump.”

“I do get caught up in my work. I know that she thinks that. After all, I’m not exactly secretive about it. I just…want to succeed.”

“Yeah, that’s what she said. And I can see that considering your tragic backstory.” She tried to let out a laugh but it was half hearted.

Apparently Kamden caught on to that too. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”

She dug a toe into the carpet. He was right. “You treated me as if I was less than you. You said I couldn’t understand. As if I was an idiot who couldn’t possibly keep up with you. You have this big important job and I was already feeling a bit insecure about our job difference. Then I overheard people confirming that at breakfast and-”

“What? Who said that?” He stood back up and was in front of her in a flash. His sudden movements took her aback and evidently he saw the apprehension on her face. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking a step back. “Who was it?”

She paused, looking at her hands before she continued. “I’m not sure. I only heard their voices but they were definitely talking about us and how I could only be with you for your money.”

Kamden sighed. “I’m sorry you heard that. That was probably Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve. They arrived late last night. I ran into them when I checked in on mom’s talk with the florist. They made a few pointed remarks when they greeted me about my relationship choice. They’ve always been a bit preoccupied with their success and astounded when others can’t achieve it. As if Uncle Steve didn’t already come from money. I’ve heard that they turned up their noses when I was adopted. As if I was a dirty child straight from the street who would steal all of my parents’ worldly goods. But they changed their tune when I graduated top of my class and became a lawyer. Suddenly they wanted to me to join them for lunch at the club or have me over for tea. Trust me when I say their opinion of people means less than nothing. I hoped they would keep quiet about their opinions but evidently not.”

Mia smiled. “Thank you. I tried to push it away. I figured their opinion was pointless.” She trailed off and looked at her hand in his. “But then you said those things and…”

Kamden’s hand cupped her cheek and lifted her face to look at him. “I didn’t mean it that way. I’m so sorry it came out that way. You are intelligent and quick witted and charming, and a much better person than I ever gave you credit for before. That will never happen again.”

“Thank you.

“Is there anything else? Are we okay?”

Mia looked at him and placed her hand over the one on her face. Any fears and insecurities that she had were quashed. He truly listened to her. “Yeah, we’re okay. Thank you for understanding where I was coming from.”

His eyes burned into hers with such intensity. “And I will do whatever I can to make that up to you.”

_I want you to kiss me for real._

Where did that thought come from? She had to push it away. “I guess it will be easier after this weekend. I mean, we won’t be seeing each other as much.”

Kamden’s hand slipped from her face. “Yes, that’s true.”

Her face felt cold where his hand had been. She wanted his hand back there. No. She had to rid herself of these weird emotions.

“So, the ceremony is in a couple of hours, right? I guess we should start getting ready. Do you need to go get ready with Matthew?”

“No. Matthew’s not quite the ‘get dressed and drink together’ type. We’re just meeting up a little before the ceremony.”

“Okay. Do you need to shower or anything?”

“I already did this morning. But thank you. It’s all yours.”

-

Mia’s mind wandered as she showered. What the hell was going on between them? What was with that weird energy? She blow dried her hair and pinned it into a chignon that took far too many bobby pins. Why did her mind attack her with thoughts of kissing him? It wasn’t like she was attracted to him.

Was she?

Okay, there was some physical contact that she wished lasted a little longer than it did. But what could you expect from acting to be someone’s girlfriend for the last two days? She paused, three bobby pins held in her teeth.

Acting.

Of course! She had to be an idiot not to see it sooner. It’s the oldest thing in the book. It happened in Hollywood all the time. It was why half of the actors in the world were married. Because they were playing opposite each other and they would confuse feelings they had from being on set to their real lives. That was all this was. All the weird feelings she felt were because of her having to act all lovey dovey around him. And the fact that he was a decent kisser only made those feelings stronger.

She smacked herself in the forehead for being such a dunce but exclaimed an “ouch” when the forgotten bobby pin in her hand stabbed her in the forehead. Fortunately, no damage done.

As she did her makeup, she further reassured herself that that was what this was. Just a stupid crush born of fake feelings and made up situations.

She was firmly in this stance as she slipped on her dress that was hanging on the back of the door. It was simple and red with a criss cross halter neck. But when she went to reach for the zipper, it stopped halfway up. Damn dress. You’re supposed to pay more for nice dresses so the zippers don’t snag on themselves.

“Stupid designers,” she muttered to herself.

With a quick check of the time, she saw that it was 2:05 and she knew the ceremony was at 3:00. She hoped that Kamden was still there.

“Kamden?” she called as she stuck her head out of the door. “Are you still here?”

“What is it?”

“I need help. My zipper won’t close. I think it’s snagged.”

She turned around, her back facing the door. She heard his soft footsteps approach and she took a breath. She felt his breath on her neck and she could feel goosebumps rise on her skin.

“Is the AC too strong for you?”

“No, it’s fine. I just had a hot shower so I guess it feels a little cold out here.”

He said nothing in return and she waited.

His hands brushed her back and she sucked in a breath as quietly as she could. His hands were gentle, careful as he found the tab and eased it gently out of the snag. His fingers brushed her skin at the top of the zipper and she could have sworn that he paused there. She felt a blush on her face and when she swallowed, she heard him clear his throat. His hands on her skin, although just brushing, felt good. It felt natural, like they belonged there.

_No! You idiot. You just realized that these are fake feelings. Get a hold of yourself._

She turned around and smoothed out the skirt. “Thank you.”

What she saw was amazing. She saw him in suits before of course, but never a wedding one. It was classic black with a silver vest and tie that brought out his eyes and accented his hair.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

She felt a blush rise and knew she had to stamp it out quickly. “Of course I do.”

Silence fell between them again and Kamden cleared his throat. “Well, I should go tend to my best man duties. Make sure the groom is still here and all that.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll just head down to the ceremony.”

“Well, I’ll see you there then.”

He started to walk away but Mia grabbed his arm, noticing it at the last moment. “Wait.”

His eyes were narrowed ever so slightly, as if cautious of what she might say. “What is it?”

She tugged him back and her hands went for his slightly crooked tie. “You can’t be a very good best man with a crooked tie.”

She adjusted his tie, gently sliding it into place. She felt him swallow underneath her hand when she lingered so she patted the knot before shooing him away.


	8. Chapter 8

The garden was absolutely beautiful. Flowers were in perfect bloom with rich scents in the air and the sun warmed her skin. The lawn was set with rows of folding white chairs all facing an equally white gazebo with dark wood trim and draped with swaths of organza fabric neatly tied with bundles of pink roses. A couple dozen guests, mostly family, were already milling about and visiting and she settled into a conversation with Hannah and her son who was running back and forth to his mother.

“Hopefully he’ll be fine through the ceremony,” Hannah said. “Ethan can be a bit energetic, which is why we’re sending him on missions right now. Hopefully he’ll tire himself out before the ceremony.”

Mia watched as the six year old ran to the flower his mother pointed out to count the number of petals it had.

“Smart. You don’t want him deciding to just run up the aisle in the middle of it all.”

“Yeah, that’s the hope.” Her eyes drifted toward Ethan. “No honey, don’t pull the flower. Just count the petals. Leave the flower in its home.” She turned back to Mia and said, “Sorry about that. I wish I could remember the last time I had a full adult conversation without having to say things like ‘don’t punch the wall.’”

“You should have come to the games night last night.”

“I was planning to but then Ethan was sick last night. You know how it is. Only mom and dad can make things better when you’re sick.”

Before Mia could respond, a pair of arms grabbed Hannah around the waist and pulled her to the side, revealing Travis as the perpetrator.

“Travis, you butt munch. Let me go!”

“Fight all you want. You will never best me.” Looking over Hannah’s shoulder he noticed Mia. “Hi Mia. Don’t mind us.”

Mia held up her hands in a surrender gesture.

“Travis, Hannah, what are you doing?”

Mia froze at the sound of a very stern voice and turned to see a woman with fake blonde hair in a short cut. She looked older but it was a bit hard to tell and it took her a moment to realize why.

“Come on Aunt Karen. Just having a little fun with my sister. Besides, it’s a wedding. It’s meant to be fun.”

Mia froze. This? This was Aunt Karen? The woman looked like she was held together with Botox. She wanted to laugh. She couldn’t believe she was worried about this woman’s opinion.

“No,” Karen said, waggling a finger. “A wedding is a serious occasion. Not an opportunity to horse around.”

Mia caught the end of an eye roll from Travis as he let go of Hannah.

“Much better,” Karen said before turning her attention to Mia. “Now, who is this lovely young lady you’ve brought?”

“Oh, this isn’t my date. I didn’t bring one. But this is Mia, Kamden’s girlfriend. Mia, this is Aunt Karen.”

Mia wanted to laugh all over again. Karen’s face changed from welcoming to distrustful and Mia could have sworn she saw Karen’s fingers close a little tighter around her clutch bag.

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Mia said.

“Charmed. So you’re the one who’s stolen Kam’s heart.”

Mia didn’t miss the emphasis she put on _stolen_. Clearly this was one of those people who could never see reason. So Mia figured she should just make her completely paranoid.

“I am,” Mia responded with a wide smile. “And I hope to steal more than just his heart.”

“Yes.” Mia could see the strain under Karen’s already tightly pulled skin to stay friendly. “Wouldn’t that be lovely? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to check in with my husband.”

Without even a goodbye, she swept away. Mia smiled in triumph. But as she followed where Karen disappeared to, she saw Jason through the crowd, talking with family. It wouldn’t have been so strange if he didn’t have his arm around a woman that Mia hadn’t seen all weekend. What was he up to? But Hannah brought her attention back.

“Sorry about that. Doctors never could find the stick that grew up Aunt Karen’s butt. She’s not exactly subtle.”

“And you handled her amazingly,” Travis said. “You know, you don’t have to wait for Kamden to come and visit us. Just come out on a free weekend sometime. I have a pullout couch and pictures of Kamden as a kid.”

Mia laughed, happy to put Karen and any possible plan of Jason’s out of her mind. “That sounds amazing. So what kind of stories do you have that I can hold over him?”

Before long, a small crowd gathered and everyone was sharing their embarrassing Kamden stories.

“No way. He had to dress like a pirate?” Mia asked aghast.

“For a whole week,” Zack replied. “He agreed to the terms and I wasn’t about to let him forget about that. By the end of the week, half of campus was calling him Captain White Hair. But he learned to never challenge me to beer pong again.”

She also learned of the ear piercings he got when he was 15, the time Matthew dared him to go skinny dipping but Kamden vehemently refused, and his celebratory party after he passed the bar exam. He drank so much that he actually sang karaoke to Backstreet Boys.

“I can’t even imagine. I don’t think I’ve even seen him buzzed.”

“He definitely doesn’t want a repeat of that. Especially since smartphones are a lot more widespread these days. Can’t have video evidence being seen by a client or something,” Zack said.

“Okay,” Mia said. “Keep these stories coming. First, I need to cool off a bit. I’ll be right back.”

There was a drink stand nearby with icy, fruity drinks. Mia chose a yellow one that turned out to be the best lemonade she ever had. And in that moment, as she relished the refreshing drink, he appeared in front of her.

Jason was dressed in a slightly fancier suit than she already saw him in, his hair slicked back again. His cheery smile made her want to hurl.

“Mia,” he said in an obnoxiously syrupy tone. “It’s so lovely to see you.”

“Jason,” she greeted in an equally obnoxious tone. “We missed you at the rest of games night last night.”

“Ah, yes. I had to run back into the city to pick up my date. Katrina!” he called out, getting the attention of the woman she saw earlier. She excused herself from a conversation and stepped over next to Jason. “This is my date, Katrina Lawson. Katrina, this is Mia, Kamden’s girlfriend.”

Katrina was immaculate. She had long brown hair that looked like it had no idea what frizz was. The dress she wore was cranberry coloured, off the shoulder, had elbow length sleeves and hugged her every curve down to her knees. Every accessory she wore screamed that she was beautiful and successful.

Katrina threw her hand over her heart. “You’re Kam’s girlfriend? Oh, it is so lovely to finally meet you.”

Mia felt prickles of suspicion. “You know Kam?”

“Of course. We know each other quite well, actually.” Mia raised an eyebrow so Katrina continued. “I’m also a lawyer. Unfortunately I had an important case yesterday that just had to be dealt with so I couldn’t make it out until today.”

There was something about Katrina's tone. It was too syrupy, too sweet. What was Jason up to? She needed to talk to Kam to find out more about this woman but she couldn’t exactly get to him at the moment. For the time being, she would have to just play along.

“Well, any friend of Kam’s is a friend of mine.”

“Delightful,” Katrina said in a tone too sappy to actually be delightful.

Before either of them could say anything else, all of the guests were invited to take their seats.

“Darn,” Katrina said. “I thought we had a little more time. I suppose we’ll just have to chat later.”

Mia forced an equally disappointed expression to her face. “Darn indeed. We’ll catch each other later.”

The two waved goodbye and Mia found a group she much preferred to sit with. She settled into her seat between Zack and Hannah as string music filled the space.

Matthew was first, looking adorably nervous as he walked down the aisle by himself. Next were Kamden and Amy and Mia forced the giggle she felt back down her throat. He looked so serious. Just a few days ago, she would have used that as proof that he was an unfeeling jerk. But as he got closer and passed her, she could see something in his face. His lips were turned up, but only just. Was he nervous? Excited? Worried?

She wondered how many other times she only saw that ‘unfeeling jerk’ that she was so determined to see. How many facial ticks did she miss before because she was too stubborn to see past what he presented? Realistically, every time. But she was determined to do better now.

The two reached the front and when he turned around, his eyes quickly found hers. She tried to ignore the feeling in her stomach that it brought. Fortunately, there was another couple coming down the aisle to distract her.

Malcolm and Naomi walked down the aisle smiling. Malcolm wore the same suit as Kam but she couldn’t help noticing that Malcolm looked a bit awkward. He didn’t seem natural in the suit and the grey vest didn’t suit him like it did Kamden.

The music changed and everyone stood. Bunny was at the end of the aisle, a parent on each side. Her dress was strapless with a peekaboo layer of lace and Mia suspected that there were more layers of crinoline than there were guests at the wedding. Her bouquet was pink roses and Mia could just see pink heels poking out from underneath her dress. But all of that melted away with the look on Bunny’s face. If Mia thought before that Bunny’s smile could light up a room, this one could light the whole world.

The ceremony was everything Mia would have expected from the few days she knew Bunny. It was romantic but light hearted, and a few laughs echoed through the crowd. Especially when, in her vows, Bunny promised to take Matthew as her lawfully hedded wusband. Meanwhile, Matthew almost dropped the ring before placing it shakily on Bunny’s finger. But it was sweet. Mia could feel the love the two of them shared. It was infectious and she found that she was laughing while wiping away a few stray tears.

When they were declared husband and wife, the crowd cheered, especially because of Bunny’s enthusiasm when she pulled him in for kiss. As soon as they kissed, Walking on Sunshine started playing. Once they finally separated, they danced back down the aisle. Well, mostly Bunny danced and Matthew tried to follow along. The crowd filtered out behind the wedding party and she caught Kam’s eye to smile at him as he walked back down the aisle.

When the wedding party disappeared, staff with glasses of bubbly and plates of appetizers appeared and made their rounds through the crowd. There was slow cooked pork belly skewered with crisp apples, crab cakes with a citrus mayonnaise, the most amazing deviled eggs, tomato and bocconcini drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and the creamiest mac and cheese with little bits of bacon.

Mia sipped and nibbled as she made the rounds. She met a few more family members that only came up the previous day and they were pleasant enough to talk to.

She was repeatedly told how nice it was to see Kamden with someone and she received more than a handful of comments of when it would be their turn to get married.

She was starting to tire of answering that same question with vague answers when Eileen appeared at her side.

“Bunny’s asking for you.”

“For me?” Mia asked

“Yes. She wants you for some pictures.”

Mia agreed, excused herself, and was pulled through the throngs of people to a garden and pond around the other side of the building.

Bunny and Matthew were squeezed under her veil together in the iconic wedding pose, both of their eyes were filled with so much love that Mia couldn’t help but smile.

She didn’t even realize how lost she got in staring at them until an arm wrapped around her waist and she gasped.

“I see mom found you.” Of course it was Kamden.

Mia whapped him in the chest. “You scared me. Where were you?”

He gestured to some hedges to the side. “Taking pictures with the bridal party.”

His arm around her was comfortable and warm and she found herself relaxing into him. For that moment, things felt right and she forgot that she was meant to be acting. It was a beautiful day, a wonderful wedding, it felt like there was so much peace and happiness around her.

“Mia!” Bunny called out. Mia looked up to see Bunny practically running towards her. “I’m so glad mom found you. You and Kamden need pictures together.”

“This is your wedding,” Kamden said. “Not studio time at Sears.”

“You’re right. It’s my wedding so you have to do what I say. If there aren’t pictures of you two together, I might think later that this was all just a dream. I need proof!”

She tugged on their arms and Kamden rolled his eyes teasingly but agreed. His hand slipped away from Mia’s waist to take her hand in his own and they stepped in front of the flower bed Bunny was shooing them towards. When she gave Mia a gentle shove, she whispered, “I’m glad you worked things out,” so that only Mia could hear. She winked back at Bunny before settling her attention on Kam. But staring at Kam meant that Mia suddenly had no idea how to pose. She settled in wrapping her arm around his waist and he did the same.

“You said it yourself,” Bunny teased. “This isn’t a Sears studio. Stop posing like that. It’s boring!”

“Stop giving orders,” Kamden called back. But he obliged when Mia felt herself be turned toward him and he wrapped both arms around her waist, putting his forehead to hers. She ignored the butterflies that came alive in her stomach again and repeated to herself that these feelings were fake. This crush was only because of the lovey dovey way they had been acting for the last two days. But still she felt the heat rush to her face.

Then, when his lips brushed hers, her body responded before her mind did.

She didn’t realize her hands were in his hair until he gently pulled her arms down. He pulled away and whispered, “I think this may be overcompensating.”

Mia looked back to the photographer and the family, Bunny was grinning wildly, and felt her face turn bright red.

She was much better behaved for the rest of the pictures.

-

Mia sipped her champagne as she talked with Kam’s mom. From the gardens, the guests all slowly migrated into the hotel’s main event space for the reception to await the entrance of the bridal party. It was a beautiful room with high ceilings, trims of dark wood against pale walls, and roses practically everywhere.

She was true to her promise and behaved herself for the rest of pictures. Bunny demanded a couple more locations for the two of them and wanted Mia in some of the family photos. She forced herself to resist Kamden in the rest of the pictures, especially when it was just the two of them. What had even come over her? Well, she knew what came over her, if she was honest with herself. This set up had her making up feelings and he looked really good in his suit and he smelled good and Mia found herself letting go of any restraints for just that moment. Unfortunately, it was a terrible moment in which to do so. She needed to make sure that didn’t happen again. She couldn’t let herself think those feelings were real.

Almost as soon as she entered the ballroom, she was pulled aside by Eileen. Mia inwardly panicked, wondering if she was going to be scolded for her actions during photos.

Eileen reached into her purse. “I just wanted to give you this when Kamden wasn’t around.”

“What is it?”

Eileen pulled out a white envelope and gave it to Mia. “Kamden has never been a particularly sentimental person so I can’t imagine he has too many pictures of himself as a child. I thought you might like to see them.”

Mia grinned devilishly, all worry gone, and opened the envelope.

There were at least a dozen photos, all of Kamden from the time he was adopted to his high school graduation. As a child, his cheeks were chubbier than she would have expected. He had a mouth full of braces at around the age of 14, there were nervous pictures of him in a prom style tuxedo, and proud pictures of him at graduation, with an arm around each of his parents and Bunny poking her head into the frame.

She flipped the photos and burst into laughter when she found a picture of him in the pinkest hat she had ever seen. He sat with Bunny at a table pinching the teacup’s handle and even holding the pinky up. Bunny sat opposite him in a matching pink dress with gloves that were too big to be her own and a pearl necklace that dangled all the way to the floor.

“She always used to steal him for tea parties. He would act grumpy about it but I know he was just happy to feel included with his little sister. He was just so happy about how much she loved him.”

“They seem so close. It’s nice. I’m an only child so I never got to experience what it was like to have a sibling. I always wanted a big sister so she could show me how to put on makeup and how to flirt with boys.” Mia rolled her eyes at her own childish antics. “I thought having a boyfriend was the most important thing in the world.”

“Well you have a wonderful one now. I’ve wanted to see him settled for quite some time now. He needs someone in his life who will keep from working too much. If he stays a bachelor, I’m sure he would work himself into an early grave.”

Mia took Eileen’s hand. “He definitely would. Don’t worry, I’ll keep him from working too much.”

“Thank you. Now I should run. I need to check in with a few people. And don’t let Kamden know that I brought you those pictures. At least, not yet.”

Mia swore secrecy and Eileen gave her hand one more squeeze before disappearing into the crowd.

Mia was just contemplating what to do next when Katrina appeared beside her with two champagne glasses, Jason nowhere in sight.

“Hello again,” Katrina said with a thousand watt fluorescent smile. “Would you like one?” she asked holding out one of the champagne glasses.

Mia smiled back but wondered quickly if she would have tainted the champagne with anything. Probably not. She decided to risk it and took the glass.

“So I hear you’re a receptionist. I know Kam doesn’t step too outside of his comfort zone. How on Earth did you two meet?”

While Mia noticed how quickly the conversation turned to Kamden, she didn’t let the suspicion show. Instead she put on her loving girlfriend face. “Oh, we met through some common friends. A couple of friends of his are dating friends of mine. How about you and Jason?”

“We’ve known each other for years. Most lawyers in the city know each other at least by reputation. I realized what we could do for each other. And he was so sweet, he positively _hooked_ me. But it’s nothing like you and Kam. You’re like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. It’s so sweet.”

“Can everyone please take their seats?” Zack said from the MC podium.

“Oh darn,” Katrina said, “Cut short again. I’ll catch you later, Mia.”

“I would love that,” Mia said with the same level of fake enthusiasm. While she was happy to leave the conversation, she also wasn’t quite sure what Katrina was up to. Her tone was too happy, too excited to be genuine. And while Mia wasn’t a great actress, she could spot a bad one from a mile away.

As Mia went to find her seat, she glanced at Katrina finding her table. She was trying to get info, that had to be it. She was a lawyer, after all. She was probably just trying to catch Mia in a lie. But if she was helping Jason, she had something to gain out of this. Jason must have recruited her in his stupid need to prove that she and Kam weren’t actually dating. But what was in it for her? She needed to talk to Kam. During pictures, she was so caught up in Bunny's directions and trying to resist Kam that she completely forgot to bring up the mysterious woman. Hopefully she could steal him for a moment alone before anything else happened.

Mia found her table with Kam’s parents, Zack, and Gary. The rest of the table was reserved for the rest of the bridal party while Bunny and Matthew had a sweetheart table for two.

Upbeat music filled the room as Zack introduced himself and the music built to a crescendo as he announced the bridal party. Naomi and Malcolm danced into the room while Kam and Amy just walked a little faster than normal. Still, the sight of him made her smile. It was the longest she had gone without seeing him all weekend.

As he settled in beside her, she leaned in and whisper yelled over the music, “Smooth moves.”

He gave her a teasing glare but still wrapped his arm around her to pull her closer.

“And now,” Zack continued. “The couple of the evening. You’ve been waiting for them. Give it up for Mr and Mrs Bunny Taylor and Matthew Shields.”

The crowd rose to their feet and cheered as the happy couple made their entrance. Matthew even seemed to relax and he gave Bunny a twirl on the way to their table.

Once they took their seats and the guests started to settle, Zack continued. “Now I know all of you, especially the bride, are looking forward to dinner and I was about to announce it but I just got the signal that dinner will be a bit longer but they are bringing out more appetizers in the meantime. Enjoy!” And Zack bailed at the podium to join the rest of the group at their table, giving Amy a kiss on the hand as he sat down.

A delay. Perfect.

Mia leaned over the table to grab Zack’s attention. “How long is dinner delayed?”

Zack shrugged. “Not long. Ten or fifteen minutes probably. Why?”

“Okay." she turned her attention to Kam. "There’s that thing I wanted to show you.” She nudged her head to the side, hoping he would play along.

His eyes flashed as he realized what she was doing. “Yes, that’s right.”

Mia breathed a sigh of relief as they stood up. She couldn’t let this opportunity pass by. She needed answers. The two said nothing as they walked out to the patio.

As they stepped outside, he looked around the courtyard. Once he was sure they were alone, he turned back to Mia.

“What is it?”

“I think I know what Jason’s big plan is.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. But there are a couple of things that don’t make sense.”

“Such as?”

“He brought this woman, Katrina…”

The look on his face stopped her.

“Katrina. I briefly saw her earlier but I didn’t realize it was her. I thought I was mistaken. I should have known Jason would recruit her. When did you meet her?”

“Just before the ceremony. Who the hell is she and what is her problem?”

“An ex-girlfriend of mine.”

“You two dated?”

“Yes, but only in the loosest sense of the word. We dated for four months but I think we only had seven or eight dates in that time.”

“In four months?”

“She’s also a lawyer who’s very much in demand. We didn’t have much time to see each other outside of working our cases.”

“So what happened?”

Kam cupped his forehead. “We first started seeing each other because it made sense. We had similar goals, knew each other relatively well through reputation, and we had a few passing conversations that were pleasant.”

“But?”

“But our schedules impeded on each other’s. We never saw each other and it wasn’t a relationship I wanted to fight for. And then I discovered that she developed a ruthless side to her career that I did not care for. She developed dirty tricks to win cases, though they weren’t actually illegal methods.”

“But why would she want to screw you over? A failed relationship doesn’t really seem like justification.”

“I brought up those accusations when I broke up with her. She did not take to it well. I imagine this is her way of saying that she hasn’t forgotten about that conversation. But what does she want with you? Why approach you?”

“She was acting really cheery to meet me. I mean, _really_ cheery. And there’s only one reason you’re that level of fake nice to someone. She wants information. I think Jason told her about his stupid theory that I’m a hooker and she’s trying to play nice to catch me in a lie.”

Kam was smiling. In fact, he looked downright impressed. “You put that together from one conversation with her?”

“Two, actually.”

Kam smiled the widest she had ever seen. “You’re brilliant. That is very much her style, although I’m surprised she’s going along with this on so little evidence.”

“So, what now?”

“We do exactly what we did with Jason, give her nothing to go on. She’ll probably approach you as much as she can tonight to get information and she’ll likely approach you alone. Do you think you’ll be okay with that?”

Mia grinned. “I was a teenage girl once. I think I can deal with a petty girl trying to spread lies.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note for this chapter. You will notice a SWOON WORTHY piece of art included. I commissioned the amazing, wonderful, incredibly talented eli to do a piece for this story and I have been madly in love with it. Check out her other work on her tumblr and/or twitter at bowldeepfannish or here on AO3 at elianthos. Her work is amazing. Give her love, reblog her art, and if you are able to get a commission from her, please do so!! She will amaze you with the things she can do (especially with hair). I cannot recommend her enough.

Mia and Kamden walked back into the ballroom and she tried not to smile. They arrived back just in time for Zack to announce that dinner was ready and they joined the rest of their table in lining up for the buffet. Even though she had at least five of each appetizer in the garden, the buffet had her salivating again. She piled her plate with a garden salad dotted with goat cheese and cranberries, thick sliced prime rib, whippy mashed potatoes, and creamy butternut squash ravioli. Everything was absolutely amazing but she found that she had to take a walk before going back for seconds.

And it helped that taking a walk put her perfectly alone.

Sure enough, after being out on the patio for no more than 90 seconds, Katrina magically appeared in a waft of Yves St Laurent perfume.

“Mia, I thought that was you coming out here. Needed a little fresh air?”

“I did. Just wanted a little break before going back for seconds.”

“The food is amazing. I wish I had room for seconds.”

“Hopefully Kam doesn’t miss you too much while you’re gone.”

There it was, but the transition was a bit sloppier than she expected.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Still, such an early relationship, you’ve been together for what, six months?”

“Seven, actually.”

“That’s a wonderful place to be. Things are still fresh and exciting. You must have so much fun together, when he’s not working.”

Mia shrugged. “We make it work. It comes pretty naturally, actually.”

“Well, it must help that your hours are much more predictable than his are.”

“It does, actually. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like I worked a job with long hours. You would barely see each other.” Mia couldn’t help but let out the small smile. “It would be disastrous to try and have two people with hectic schedules. You would barely see each other.”

Katrina clenched her teeth as she said, “Indeed.” She gained control of herself again and continued. “And you certainly got lucky meeting Kam. Not many people are as driven and successful as he is. But listen to me prattle on. This is making me realize that I have no idea where you work.”

“A recording studio.”

“Fascinating. Which one exactly?”

It was pretty amazing. To anyone else, their conversation would sound completely innocent. But Mia listened carefully to everything Katrina said, knowing that she was trying to trip her up on just one little detail.

“Unfortunately I can’t say. We haven’t officially launched yet and things are still a bit up in the air.”

“Quite generous of them to give you the weekend off. They must be incredibly busy if they’re just starting up. I’m surprised they would let you go away for four whole days.”

“They’re wonderful employers and I really appreciate their understanding.”

“They must have met Kam to be so understanding.”

“They didn’t need to. They saw that it was important to me to be there for him. Hopefully Kam can make it to the Christmas party to thank them in person.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” 

“It really would. Now, I should really get back to the buffet line before they start clearing away the food. I would hate to miss out on seconds.”

“Of course. Don’t let me hold you up,” Katrina said through clenched teeth.

It was entertaining to watch Katrina try and hold on to that friendly demeanour. She couldn’t keep Mia there without seeming rude but now that Mia left of her own accord, the ball was in her court.

And it was so satisfying.

-

With seconds from the buffet in her hand, Mia walked back to her table and gave Kam a wink. It was shortly after Mia finished that plate that Katrina made her next move.

When Zack went to check in with the DJ, Katrina wasted no time in taking his seat, which was, of course, right next to Kamden.

“Kam! It’s been ages!”

Mia didn’t miss how Katrina’s hands lingered on his arms as she greeted him.

“Katrina, what are you doing here?” At least Kam was a much better actor than she was.

“Oh, Jason brought me. We’ve been dating for a little while, you didn’t hear?”

“I can’t say that I did. I haven’t been keeping up with the gossip lately. Oh, speaking of which, meet my girlfriend, Mia.”

“Oh, we already met, didn’t we Mia? Kam, she is absolute delight. Positively _hooked_ me. I can see why she appeals to you.”

“She is a remarkable woman,” he said as he pulled his arm out of Katrina’s grip. Not many women can live up to her caliber.”

“Yes, to find a great partner, it’s almost as if you have to pay someone to be with you.”

Mia fought the urge to roll her eyes. This? This was Katrina’s big plan? It was actually kind of pathetic.

“Well, it’s a good thing you and Jason discovered that you are so well suited,” Kam said. I would hate for you to be with someone for simply advantageous reasons. I’m glad you two are so happy together.”

Katrina’s teeth clenched again. “Indeed we are.” She must have realized that and quickly loosened her jaw. “Speaking of him, I should really be getting back to him. Excuse me.”

Katrina walked as quickly as her tight dress would allow, probably to regroup whatever plan she had.

Eileen leaned over the table. “Who was that?”

-

Before long, dessert was rolled out and Mia found that she took far too many sweets. She poked at the cheesecake, trying to figure out how she could fit it in her stomach along with the apple tart, a strawberry milkshake (only Bunny would have a milkshake machine at her wedding), and there was still the wedding cake to try.

Bunny and Matthew already cut into the cake with no cake smashing in sight. Then staff swept in and sliced pieces to leave on the table next to the cake for guests to help themselves at their own pace. It looked amazing and Mia knew she needed to have a slice. It was a thick chocolate cake with plump pink flowers made of icing. Mia just had to find room for it in her stomach. Bunny, meanwhile, already had two slices and Mia suspected it wouldn’t be long before she came for her third.

Their table was relatively empty with most of the bridal party and Kam’s parents socializing. Kamden stepped out to get some fresh air but Mia decided her time would be better used for attacking dessert. And if Katrina decided to try something, she would welcome it. Amy was the only person left and sat on the other side of the table but she was in conversation with Austin.

She forced that bite of cheesecake into her mouth when Jason and Katrina apparently decided that a united front would be their next move and sat on either side of her. She pretended not to notice them. Even though she knew what they were planning, their growing accusations were getting annoying.

“So I’ve been asking around a bit,” Jason began. “It’s rather odd that no one met you before this weekend.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because we live in another city. It’s kind of hard to meet people when you have to plan a weekend trip for it. Especially when one half of the couple works a lot. Or do you always have relaxing weekends as lawyers?”

“He found time this weekend,” Katrina said. Interesting. Mia supposed that Katrina was done acting nice and was now going straight for accusations.

“Yeah. Because it’s his little sister’s wedding. You would have to be either heartless or hate your family to do that.”

“It must be hard then,” Jason said. “To try and see each other enough around your work schedules to maintain a healthy relationships.”

“It’s mainly around his schedule. I’m off at reasonable times, usually. It helps that I don’t work nights.”

“Really?” Katrina purred. “I would think nights would be your busiest time.”

Deciding that playing dumb would be her best option. “What are you talking about?

Apparently they also decided to change up their tactics. Katrina pulled out her phone and pulled up a screenshot from Mia’s Instagram. She remembered taking that photo. Just a simple selfie but the caption was what triggered Mia’s memories.

_Got an amazing opportunity. Gonna make all the connections and make all the money. You’ll see these girls’ dreams come true!_

Sure, she was referring to her arrangement with Kam and the introduction to Florencia she would get. But it wasn't as if she was going to announce that on the internet. Wait…did Katrina think…

“Making some money for this weekend are you? That hardly seems like something that would happen in a healthy relationship. It sounds more like a business arrangement if you ask me.”

“So you think that post…”

“Escorts aren’t technically illegal but criminal charges can be made if money is exchanged for sexual acts.”

“If you really think that Kam is the type who would hire a hooker to go with him to his little sister’s wedding, then you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”

“I just sent the screenshot to Kam too. Told him that I’ll use it as proof against him to his whole family.”

Well, if Katrina took her gloves off, so would Mia. “He told me what you did. Why are you such a vindictive bitch?”

“I’m one of the most sought after lawyers in the state. I plan to keep it that way. If Kamden started running his mouth about my methods, that would change. So don’t think you’re going to stand in the way. After all, you’re just a business arrangement.”

“You pathetic bitch. Get it through that thick head of yours! I’M NOT A HOOKER!”

Mia didn’t realize she was yelling until she saw several pairs of eyes looking at her. That was also the moment that she realized her outburst was much louder than the calm background music that was playing.

Bunny was the first person who moved. She was by the cake table, with another slice in hand. She took four steps to stand next to Mia.

“Did you just call my brother’s girlfriend a hooker?” It was strange to see the smile from Bunny’s face gone, like if Santa Claus frowned.

Katrina didn’t flinch. Instead, she cleared her throat, the whole room now at her command. She stood up. “Yes, I did. Jason and I-”

But she was interrupted when Bunny dumped the slice of cake on Katrina’s head, making sure to smear the frosting right into her perfect hair. Before Jason could react, Bunny grabbed a second slice and pushed it right into Jason’s face.

“How dare you? You think you can come to my wedding and say things like that to my brother’s girlfriend? Even my Kindergarteners know not to call people names. Jason, you’ve always been a jerk and even more so for bringing her.”

The act drew the crowd of guests closer and closer. Jason tried to clear enough icing to be able to see and Katrina was horrified, trying to blot the icing out of her hair with a napkin.

“A malicious attack!” she screamed. “Just wait until I get you to court.”

“Go ahead,” Bunny said. She looked over her shoulder where, sure enough, Kamden was. “I’ll have great representation.”

And then one woman burst forward.

“What is my no good son doing?”

It was Jason’s mother who came forward. He was already embarrassed from cake being shoved in his face. But when his mother charged through the crowd to scold him and Katrina, he shrunk as if he was a child who was caught drawing on the walls.

With all eyes on Katrina, Jason, and his mother, Mia slipped away. She stood a little ways away, watching his mother’s tirade and smiled. It was satisfying. The jerk had it coming. But somehow, it wasn’t quite enough.

That was when she had an idea.

With everyone’s attention on the public scolding, Mia easily slipped away to the kitchen and poked her head in the door.

The staff was busy bustling around with empty plates and someone in a suit commanding who was next to go on break.

As if fate itself smiled on her, she saw a platter of exactly what she needed less than three feet from the door. Nobody looked at her or questioned her when she took it and dashed back out.

It wasn’t hard to find Jason’s car. It was the douchiest looking car in the parking lot and, of course, had a personalized license plate saying “Ace”.

Mia hoisted the platter between one hand and her hip and picked up the first deviled egg. She hurled the first one directly at his precious license plate. As the first one made contact with a satisfying squelch, she felt a fury unleash and she just pelted them one after another at his car as she stepped closer and closer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t making the mess she hoped for, they didn’t quite have the same effect as raw eggs. She paused and made the obvious realization that he left the top down on his car.

She looked for every nook and cranny and shoved in deviled eggs: under the seat, in the glove compartment, in the cracks of the seat. It was perfect. She contemplated where to put the final egg when she heard a warm voice behind her.

“I wondered where you went to.”

She turned to see Kamden silhouetted by the patio light behind him. He was smiling but there was something about his expression that said worry.

“Well, you found me.”

“Are you okay?”

She let out a long breath and smiled. “Yeah. Sorry I kind of went off script with the plan.”

“I think it worked out for the best. But I’m sorry you had to go through it.”

Mia shrugged. “I guess I could only handle being called a hooker so many times before exploding. I’ll know that for next time.”

“Next time?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll have someone else think I’m a hooker and need to set them straight.”

“Mia, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well, you disappeared from the room rather quickly and now I see you standing over Jason’s car with a platter. What are you doing?”

She realized what it must look like and she lowered the platter. “Really, I’m fine. If I wanted to bash in his car, I would have gotten something stronger than a silver platter. This would probably bend on first hit.”

He chuckled and stepped closer to her. “Fair point. Then what is the platter for?”

She took the last few steps separating them and realized she had one egg left in her hand. Instead of explaining, she opened her hand.

“You assaulted his car with eggs?”

“It started that way but then I realized raw eggs would have been better for that. Instead, I shoved them in his car. Shouldn’t have left the top down before accusing a girl. That’s just asking for trouble.”

Mia wondered if he was going to tell her that that was a poor choice, that he could sue her for destruction of property or something.

Instead, he laughed. Not just a chuckle but a full belly, can’t stop kind of laughter.

“That’s impressive. He probably won’t be able to tell for a couple of days.” He leaned against the car as the laughter subsided. “Where did you put them?”

“Basically every hole I could find. But I do have one left if you have another spot for it.”

He thought for a moment, cupping his chin and surveying the car. “How many are under the hood?”

“…none. I didn’t even think of that.”

“May I?” he asked, outstretching his hand.

Mia smiled and placed the egg in his hand. “You may.”

He reached next to the driver’s seat and pulled the latch for the hood. Mia met him around the front of the car and watched as he carefully wedged it on top of something and between two other things, none of which she knew the names of.

“Is that safe? It’s probably best that we don’t kill him.”

“It won’t do anything serious. Just get extremely hot and smell like shit before it overcooks and melts. He’ll think something is wrong with his engine but it should be beyond recognition by that point.”

He closed the hood and Mia stared at him. “How do you know so much about the effect of hard boiled eggs and cars?”

“Just theory. Noah taught me a bit about cars in college. All I could afford was an old Corolla junker and there was something wrong with it every other week.”

Mia walked by him, a little too much innocence in her step. “Did it break down during your time as Captain White Hair?”

He stopped in his tracks. She walked back to the patio by the door and reached the railing before he recovered.

“Who told…Zack.”

She hoisted herself onto the railing and saluted. “Aye aye Captain.”

He stepped next to her and leaned on the railing beside her. “Well, now that you have that sufficiently embarrassing piece of information, I think it’s time that you reveal one of your more embarrassing stories.”

She shook her head. “Nuh-uh.”

“I suppose I’ll have to just tag along with you to a family event then. Introduce myself as your new boyfriend and get all of your worst moments.”

“Rayna has more of those stories than my parents do. They don’t know half of the stuff I got away with in my teens.”

“Such as?”

She nudged him in the shoulder with her own. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“No. And now that you have revealed your hand, I should just call Rayna and get the stories for myself.”

To emphasize his point, he reached into his tuxedo jacket and pulled out his phone. But she was quicker and swiped it.

“Don’t you dare. She’ll only exaggerate the stories and make me look worse.” She held his phone as high as she could but he just stood back up to his full height and easily grabbed it from her loose hold. In retaliation, she stuck out her tongue. “Spoilsport.”

He pocketed his phone again and leaned back against the railing. “So are you trying to tell me that I brought a felon to my little sister’s wedding?”

“Hardly. The most illegal thing was some underage drinking. There were parties and I stayed out long past curfew.”

“How many times did you get caught?”

“Only twice. My parents weren’t incredibly strict on curfew anyways. It was more of a suggestion than anything. It was only when I was a bit too loud coming home and it was a bit too late for their liking.”

“How late?”

Mia cringed ever so slightly. “Four AM? At least I think that was about right. I was kind of drunk and I was very much a lightweight at sixteen.”

“You were out until four AM when you were sixteen?”

“Not usually. Just a few times. But that particular time was a weeknight. I was going to fake being sick but since I got caught coming home _that_ late, dad forced me to go to school. It was my first hangover and that day at school was cheerleader tryouts. I foolishly volunteered to help out a couple weeks before. There was music. It was loud. And our captain was yelling commands.”

“You weren’t captain?”

“Nah. Cheerleading was good to stay active and keep performing but I was more involved with drama. Had to have a starring role before I graduated.”

“And?”

Mia smiled. “Played Elle Woods as a junior and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors when I was a senior. What’s that look for?”

“I guess I just never thought of you as a theatre kid.”

“Have you met me?”

“Until this weekend, I don’t think I really did,” he said. Mia wasn’t sure why that made her blush. “I suppose I always assumed you would have been captain of the cheerleaders, prom queen, that kind of stuff.”

“Definitely not. I wasn’t into that kind of attention.”

“I see that now.”

Mia averted her gaze, not quite able to meet the look in his eyes.

“We’ve come a long way in the last few days, haven’t we? I mean, I thought this weekend was going to be a disaster. I called Rayna when I was on the train. I wanted her to talk me out of it, tell me this whole thing was stupid. That no audition was worth the hell I was going to experience. But now,” she gestured vaguely, “look at us. We can actually carry a conversation without yelling at each other.” She looked up at the sky, a blanket of stars and a bright moon hung over them. “I’m glad you made up a fictitious woman and brought me.”

“Me too. We’ll amaze everyone when we get back, you know.”

Mia laughed. “Yeah. I think we will. But enough about me. Your little sister is married now. How does it feel?”

“It’s strange. Sometimes I still see her as the seven year old that stood up to my bullies and dressed me in accessories for tea parties.”

“Your mom showed me a picture.”

“She let it slip that you now have a copy of it. I suppose I should expect a billboard of that when we get back home?”

She nudged his shoulder again. “Nah. Too expensive. I’d rather use that money towards something else.”

“Sorry to interrupt.”

The two of them whipped around at Bunny’s voice.

“What are you doing sneaking up on people?” Kamden asked.

Bunny puffed up her cheeks and put her hands on her hips. “I was worried about your girlfriend and wanted to check in on her, dingus.”

Mia laughed before saying, “Thank you. I’m fine. Just needed some air.”

“I’m sorry Jason was such a jerk. He’s family so he sort of had to come. But they’ll be leaving soon. Aunt Julia really laid into him and his date. They’re washing the cake out of their hair and then they’ll probably be leaving.”

“Well,” Mia said, “then I guess we should get out of the line of the fire when he gets back to his car.” She picked up the silver platter, which Bunny stared at.

“The less you know, the better,” Kamden said. “Plausible deniability.”

Bunny rolled her eyes. “Try speaking English sometimes.”

Kamden gave her a gentle shove as he approached her. “Try learning English. What was your final grade in English 12 again? 67%?”

“Shhhhh.”

“And to think you shape young minds.”

Bunny pushed him back. “I am an excellent teacher, thank you.”

Mia smiled at their teasing. It was a whole different side of him that she wasn’t used to. Even after two days of it, she still found herself doing a double take.

Kamden ended their banter by turning his attention to Mia and held out his hand. “Shall we head back in?”

She placed her hand in his. “Absolutely. We haven’t even danced yet.”

-

The rest of the reception was an absolute blast, especially with Jason definitely off the premises. She wondered how long it would be until he discovered the eggs.

Speeches were short and sweet. Amy told everyone about when Bunny only saw Matthew as her brother’s annoying friend and how it was fascinating to watch their feelings change. Eileen and Ken made a speech of how Matthew was always like a son to their family and how thrilled they were to make it official. Then it was Kam’s turn.

Mia took a big bite out of the chocolate cake that she finally had a chance to try. Apparently pelting someone’s car with deviled eggs worked up enough of an appetite to have a bit more dessert.

Kam stepped up to the podium. It was cute that he looked a little nervous.

“Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming. Now, I could talk about how Matthew has become a part of this family but you’ve already heard that. Instead, I want to talk about why Matthew and Bunny work so well. We all need someone to balance us out.” Was he looking right at her? She blinked. No, he was looking at his sister. “As I’m sure you all know, Bunny has big dreams but never quite knows where to start. And I can think of no one better to help her achieve her dreams than Matthew. And in turn, she gives him hope that every day will be better than the last. And knowing what Matthew has been through in his lifetime, I know he can use that positivity in his life. So if you will all join me in raising your glasses to the happy couple, Bunny, Matthew, you’re welcome for bringing you together.”

A laugh echoed through the crowd and they all raised their glasses in congratulations. As Kam took his seat, Zack jumped back on the mic to announce that Bunny and Matthew would now have their first dance.

Mia watched as the two did the first dance sway to ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.’ It was sweet. It was always the little things Mia noticed in relationships that made her realize how much in love people were. For Bunny and Matthew in this moment, it was the permanent smile on Matthew’s face and the fact that Bunny kept squeezing him a little tighter to her.

As the song came to a close, ‘Shut Up and Dance with Me’ rose in volume. Mia shoved cake in her mouth.

“What are you doing?” he asked over the music

“Need to finish cake before dancing. I don’t want them to take this cake away and this is one of my favourite songs.” He smiled. “What is it?” she yelled back.

He pointed vaguely at her face. “You have frosting.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

She wiped her face but her finger came up empty. He tried to direct her again but she missed again. Rolling his eyes, he reached over and wiped the frosting from the corner of her mouth with the pad of his thumb.

She smiled and muttered an awkward thank you before shoving the final bite in her mouth.

“Is my face still decent?”

“It certainly is.”

“Then let’s go dance!”

Before he could dispute it, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the dance floor.

The two found an empty spot on the floor and she tried to get him to actually move his hips. He was a bit stiffer than she expected. But as other music faded in and out, Mia was surprised to find that he was actually quite good on his feet, provided that the song could be foxtrotted or waltzed to.

“When did you get good at dancing?” she said in his ear.

“I’ve always been good at it. I just don’t show it off, particularly before you and I actually got along.”

Mia smiled and gave in to his lead as he spun her around the floor. But when the Macarena came on, Kamden adamantly refused and stood on the sidelines while Mia danced in the spot until the song faded. Then, Bunny got on the microphone to announce the bouquet toss.

The dance floor filled up quickly with single women and Mia was right in the middle of them. With no warning, Bunny tossed a small version of her giant pink rose bouquet over her head. It seemed to fly in slow motion over everyone’s heads. Fingers reached for it but only grazed it before it fell directly into Mia’s hands.

When Bunny turned around and saw the roses in Mia’s hands, she screamed in glee. Immediately she ran to grab her brother, insisting that Kam get his butt on the dance floor to dance with his now soon to be wife. 

Kam looked down at her. “So, you caught the bouquet.”

Mia looked from the pink buds up to Kam’s face, hoping that the blush on her face could be interpreted as the pink from the roses. “I did.”

As if on cue, probably Bunny’s, the music switched to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect. Mia recognized the awkward look on Kam’s face that she saw earlier. He wasn’t sure how to dance to this.

“Didn’t you ever go to a dance in high school? You don’t have to be fancy.”

Without waiting for a response, she wrapped her arms around his neck and waited for him to take her cue and wrap his arms around her waist. He did and she lead him into that circular sway. She wanted to laugh at how baffled he looked but she felt like it wasn’t the time for that. Instead, she rested her head on his chest with a smile on her face. She was reminded of their first night here, when she couldn’t quite find a way to be comfortable cuddling with him in that booth. But that was different now. Now, she seemed to fit perfectly in his arms. She inhaled his cologne and tried to remember the feeling of his jacket against her skin. She pulled him a little tighter and continued swaying.

As the song faded to an end, Mia took a bit longer to let go than she expected. Even Kam seemed to pull his arms away reluctantly. Then, the bubble popped. She reminded herself that those feelings were fake. She needed to get rid of those weird feelings. Fortunately, a faster song started and it forced her to separate from him. Cha Cha Slide got louder and Mia found that when Mr. C started his directions, she found it easier to ignore that desire to be wrapped back up in his arms.

As more people flooded to the dance floor and fell into synchronization, Kamden stared in utter confusion.

“Just follow the directions in the song,” Mia yelled to him over the music. He was about to protest and leave but Bunny appeared out of nowhere to make sure he couldn’t leave.

With a passable performance, Mia and Bunny let him go where he sat down with Matthew.

Mia stayed on the dance floor the rest of the night. She danced to Taylor Swift with Hannah, Dancing Queen with Zack, and led a choreographed dance with everyone to Sha la la la la. Kamden occasionally came back to join but mostly stayed on the sidelines. But they would occasionally catch each other’s eye and smile to make sure the other was still doing well.

Guests began dropping off as the night progressed but Mia and Kam stayed until the end at 1AM with about twenty other people who were determined to stay until the very end.

“Congratulations!” Mia said with a big hug to Bunny as they headed out.

“Thank you so much for coming.” Bunny dropped her voice to a whisper. “I’m really glad you two worked things out. He really cares about you. And I hope you guys can work anything else out.”

“Thank you.”

“And if he gives you any trouble, call me.”

“I will.”

Even though Matthew wasn’t particularly huggy, Mia was still on excitable wedding vibes so she hugged him too. Behind her, Kam said a respectable goodnight to Matthew and pulled his little sister into a hug. Mia thought she saw Bunny whisper something into Kam’s ear but couldn’t quite be sure.

With one more wave goodnight, Mia and Kamden went back up to their room, making sure to take the stairs. The hallways were silent, minus the ringing in her ears and they walked slowly, hand in hand, to their room. When they entered the room, he took a bit longer to let go than she would have expected.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself,” he said.

“I did. It was a lot of fun.” Mia kicked off her shoes and shrunk three inches. “But now I need to get out of this dress and pull my hair down. I think one of these bobby pins is pushing into my skull.”

He gestured for her to use the bathroom first and she slipped inside, trying to be as fast as she could. She figured that Kamden would want to head to bed soon and he definitely wasn’t the type to go to bed without thoroughly brushing his teeth.

Once she had a clean face and pajamas on, she grabbed his attention.

“Kamden can you help me?”

He appeared from around the corner, still in his tux but his jacket and vest were off and the tie was loosened.

“Did your zipper snag again?”

“No. It’s my hair. I can’t find that stupid bobby pin.”

Kamden smiled. “Turn around. I’ll find it.

She spun around and felt his hands in her hair. They were light, careful. He set strands of hair aside to get to the tangle at the back of her head.

“Your dancing was rather enthusiastic tonight. Was this tangle because of your head banging air guitar?”

Mia laughed. “I don’t choose what to do when the music plays. I just let it happen. You weren’t too bad yourself once you finally loosened up.”

His fingers pushed strands, trying to find the hidden pin, and Mia winced.

“Sorry,” he said. His fingers worked more carefully. “Between you and Bunny, I don’t think not dancing was a choice.”

She felt the strands slip out of the tangle and hit her back. “Of course not. But when did you learn how to waltz?”

“I learned a bit in high school and kept it up for a bit. It’s useful at gala dinners and fundraisers I have to go to.”

“I bet you’re the belle of the ball, with your nice suits and your fancy moves.”

“Sorry to disappoint you but they don’t exactly crown anyone at the end of the night.”

“Well that sounds boring. How do you know who’s the fanciest one of the ball?”

His fingers worked a little further into the tangle, careful with each strand. “You listen to the gossip for the next week around the office.” Mia felt the pressure in her head lift and Kamden held out the offending bobby pin over her shoulder. “There you are.”

She took it carefully in two fingers and turned around. “Thank you. And thank you for not yanking my hair around. My dad was never careful when I got big tangles or things stuck in my hair.”

He gestured to his own head. “Practice. And with Bunny. If mom wasn’t around, I was the one to get the brush untangled from her hair. She would try and get curls in her hair by wrapping strands of her hair in a brush and, sure enough, it would get stuck.”

“I can see that. Well, bathroom’s all yours. Oh, but first, I was thinking about catching the 12:30 bus back home. What time should we leave here for that?”

“Did you buy your ticket already?”

“Not yet. I wasn’t sure how this weekend was going to go so I didn’t buy my return ticket yet.”

“Well, if you want, I can just drive you back. I think the drive will be a bit smoother than the first time.”

Mia smiled. “Sure. But I hope you know that I’ll be singing in the car on the way back.”

“I suppose I could tolerate that this time,” he said smiling.

She nodded her affirmation and he disappeared into the bathroom.

Mia eyed the bed, still a bit too energetic to sleep. Instead, she stepped over to the window and looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful, clear night, and the sky was covered in stars. She didn’t get out of the city very often and it was a nice sight to see.

“I thought you would already be in bed.”

She turned her head. His tie was gone now as was his belt, and his dress shirt had a few buttons undone. He was taking off his watch and depositing his phone when she turned around.

“Nah. Still a bit too jazzed. Trying to slow down a bit, you know.”

“Yes, I know the feeling. I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.”

“Me too. Thank you for making me feel so welcome. Well, after the other night.”

“Yes, I suppose it was fate intervening to tell us that we were misunderstanding each other the whole time.”

She turned her whole body around to face him. “You don’t strike me as someone who believes in fate.”

“I think that to a certain extent, things happen for a reason. But to a higher degree, there are things within our control.”

“I like that. I always thought that there are certain things that lead you on a certain path and you can choose to accept or deny those things, that path.” She shook her head. “Are we getting philosophical all of a sudden?”

“I suppose that’s a sign that we should get to sleep.”

“That’s probably a good choice.”

“Well, goodnight.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

She stopped in her tracks, halfway to the bed.

“To bed?”

“I believe you had the bed last night. Why do you get it again tonight?”

“You asked me why I wasn’t in bed just a minute ago.”

“That was a turn of phrase. I didn’t mean the actual bed.”

She took a few defiant steps forward and sat on the side of the bed. “I was called a hooker multiple times today and now my back is tight with accusations.”

He mimicked her steps and sat on the other side of the bed. “And I was part of a bridal party. That’s quite exhausting.”

“Well you made a crucial mistake in your approach.”

“Oh?”

“You’re still dressed. Eventually you’ll have to get up and at that point, I’m gonna starfish all over this bed.”

“Is that so? Well then, you underestimate me.”

She sat back against the headboard and threw her feet onto the bed. “Okay, then tell me your master plan.”

He matched her moves and sat beside her. “And why would I give that away?”

“I can be quite persuasive. After all, I won over almost your entire family this weekend.”

“I hardly think that comes into play in this scenario.”

“Fine. Then first one to get up, loses bed privileges.”

Kamden held out his hand. “Deal. But no cheating.”

Mia took his hand and grinned slyly before shaking it.

“I would never cheat.”

The two sat back on their sides of the bed, quiet, and wondering the other’s first move.

“So,” she began. “Will you have a lot of work waiting for you when you get back?”

“I expect so. I’ll be going in early on Monday and I expect I’ll be there until 8:00 to get fully caught up.”

“Yuck. That sounds terrible.”

“Well, that’s the life of a lawyer. Late nights are part of the job.”

“Wait, you do that all the time? I thought that was just an exaggeration from movies.”

“Well, Hollywood does exaggerate it but late nights happen more than I’d like them to.”

Mia stretched her toes. “I don’t think I could do that, long days.”

“Isn’t that typical in the acting field, long days?”

“Yeah, but that’s something I enjoy doing. After all, drama classes always went by really fast.”

“That’s because it’s something you enjoy. For me, the days may be long, but the work is worthwhile.”

She smiled. “I guess that makes sense. It’s rewarding seeing something you work on so hard pay off. Like when I was in Little Shop, rehearsals were exhausting. I barely had time to do my homework and go to cheerleading practice, and dance class. It was exhausting. But having it all come together on opening night was amazing.”

“So what do you do to fill your days now?”

She shrugged. “Work keeps me pretty busy, and auditions, and prepping for auditions.”

“Then do me a favour, okay?" He paused, putting all of his focus on Mia. "Blow Florencia out of the water.”

Mia exhaled. “With everything that’s happened this weekend, I almost forgot about it. Do you think it will actually go well? What if I panic and freeze? What if I pick the wrong monologue, or the wrong outfit? What if I-”

“Mia. You can get lost in a sea of what ifs, believe me.”

“You have personal experience?”

“Of course. It’s part of being a lawyer. You wonder if you did everything you could for that client. You lie awake at night, hoping that the decisions you made were right. Other people put their lives in my hands and that’s my duty to help.”

“You’re really noble, you know that? Shame that Jason and Katrina didn’t soak up some of that around you.”

“They’re a lost cause. Most of the cases they take are big business cases that end up screwing over good people.”

“I’m surprised you even dated her.”

“We didn’t walk in close enough circles for me to know how ruthless she was. Like I told you, I asked her out because I thought it made sense for us to be together. I quickly realized she wasn’t someone I wanted to be in a relationship with.”

“And what kind of person do you want to be in a relationship with?”

“Someone positive. Someone who sees the best in others. Someone who is worlds away from law.” Mia made a thoughtful noise and Kamden stared at her. “Is that surprising?”

“Well, yeah. I always thought of you as someone who would date someone just like you.”

Kamden shook his head. “No. I’ve always needed someone different from me to help balance me out. I didn’t really see it until I broke up with Katrina but growing up with Bunny helped me come to that realization. She kept me grounded, believe it or not.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Calls from her helped the long nights studying in college. It’s hard to be as stressed when Bunny tells you about a family of ducklings she saw.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for ducklings to keep as a story for a stressful day. Text me the next time you have one of those days.”

“I will.”

-

Before Mia’s eyes could fully open, she felt the urge for water.

It was still dark out and after a glance at the clock, she saw that it was 4:42am. Definitely too early to be awake. As her eyes adjusted, she remembered what happened before she fell asleep. She was talking with Kamden. They must have fallen asleep mid-sentence because she could have sworn they were just discussing the merits of Mario Kart as a driving course.

He was still there. Partway through their conversation about their favourite movies, he slid under the covers and removed his pants and shirt in his effort not to lose the bet. He was still in an undershirt and, she assumed, boxers.

The thought made her face blush and she tried to push it away. Sure, it was fun talking to him until they both fell asleep but these other feelings that kept rising in her stomach weren’t real. She reminded herself again of that.

He was lying on his side, his arm reached out slightly in her direction. He breathed evenly and a few strands of hair had fallen over his face. He looked peaceful, calm.

It was hard to believe how much happened over the last few days. His face became a source of comfort for her rather than annoyance and she smiled at his peaceful form.

She thought about the need for water but didn’t want to possibly disturb him when she got up. Instead, she scooched a tiny bit closer and reached out for his hand. His fingers closed carefully around hers and she smiled again.

She knew the feelings weren’t real. She reminded herself of that. But still, in the middle of the night, in the darkness and the quiet, she didn’t see any harm in indulging them for just a moment.


	10. Chapter 10

When she awoke again, it was definitely morning. Real morning, not fake morning where it’s still dark out and everyone is definitely still sleeping.

Kamden was gone from the bed and she realized her outstretched hand was where she left it last night. Crap. Did Kamden wake up to her hand in his? That would have been weird. She hit her forehead. Stupid middle of the night feelings. She just _had_ to give in to it. Well, that was the last time she would let that happen. He was probably completely weirded out.

Mia looked around. Where was he anyways?

She swept out of the bed. No one on the couch, no one on the patio, no one in the bathroom. He must be downstairs.

She grabbed her phone to see if he left her any texts. He didn’t, but she did get a different surprise when she looked at her phone.

9:36

Crap! They didn’t have long before checkout and she definitely didn’t finish packing. After throwing on clothes and making herself as presentable as possible, she moved like a tornado around the room to gather her things

When she had most of her things packed away, Kamden came back into the room.

“It’s okay, I’m awake,” she called out when she heard the door open.

“Good,” he said. He appeared from around the corner, in dark pants and a light blue collared shirt. “I wanted to wait until you were awake before I finished my packing.”

Mia’s brows pushed together and she looked around the room at his lack of things. “What packing?”

“Just a few small things.”

The two packed together in silence, a strange palpable feeling in the air. Their weekend was actually coming to a close. She hadn’t thought about what she would feel but she certainly didn’t expect to feel so downhearted about it.

After checking under the bed and in the drawers, Mia declared the room empty of their stuff.

“Bye room,” she said as they left but she paused in the door frame.

The room. The room where so much happened. Where, just three days ago, she entered with dread. Now, she left with a bit of a heavy heart.

“Shall we?” he asked.

She looked back at him. He had been so kind all weekend and she thought about all the time they lost misunderstanding each other.

She placed her hand in his. “We shall.”

The lobby was full of people. While it was clear most people already checked out of their rooms, they were saying goodbyes in the lobby. Mia managed to track down Tori and made her promise to keep in touch about her band’s progress. Travis reminded her of his pull out couch and pictures of Kam. The idea made her a bit sad. She really liked Travis but this would be the last she would see of him.

Eileen wrapped Mia in a hug and even Ken hugged her a bit tighter than expected. Eileen made sure that Mia they had each other’s phone numbers and promised Mia to send her a few more photos of Kam that she could find.

Matthew gave her a proper handshake in his own awkward way and Mia laughed it off.

Bunny pulled Mia into the biggest hug of all and whispered in her ear, “Remember, even though Kam is super smart, he’s also an idiot. If you ever have something to tell him, don’t be subtle. Just tell him.”

“Will do,” she laughed, remembering their talk in the bathroom.

Mia watched as Kamden and Matthew exchanged a lot of words and a handshake. Kamden told him to take care of his sister while Bunny punched her brother in the shoulder, making exclamations that she could take care of herself. Then Kam wrapped his arms around her and lifted her until Bunny was off the floor.

“Kam, I’m gonna beat you up.”

“How do you plan to fight me when I clearly have the upper hand?”

She pounded on his shoulders, demanding to be put down and when he finally returned her to her feet, she was laughing.

“Jerk,” she said. “Come visit again soon, okay?”

“I’ll try. And there will always be a pull out couch with your name on it if you want to come to come visit.”

“I’d like that. We could double date! Don’t break Mia’s heart before I come out there.”

“Stop worrying.” He pulled Bunny into another hug before taking Mia’s hand and walking out of the door. “Stay out of trouble,” he called over his shoulder

“I always do.”

“Liar.”

The smile on his face lasted as they loaded the luggage into the car. But when the car doors closed, Mia felt the mood change. The weekend was officially over. There was no more need to keep up appearances.

“Well, it’s almost a four hour drive back home. Is there any music you would like to listen to? There’s Bluetooth compatibility.”

Mia smiled. “Even if I put on cheesy top 40 songs?”

“Even so.”

As he reversed out of the parking spot and pulled onto the road, she pulled out her phone and started sifting through her music. She tried to find something that would satisfy both of them. She knew he was mainly saying that to be nice. While she did see a different side of him this weekend, she felt like top 40 pop songs still weren’t his favourite.

As she scrolled through her music, she filled the silence. “So this weekend went well.”

“It did. Thank you again. You really went above and beyond. Your acting is better than I expected. I imagine Florencia will be quite impressed.”

That’s right. The audition. It was weird that she kept forgetting about it.

“I really hope so. This weekend was good practice. Your acting wasn’t too shabby either, you know.”

He paused before saying, “Thank you.”

They both fell into silence and Mia flipped through a few more albums.

“So do you have any idea what meeting her will be like?” she asked

“Meeting Florencia?”

“Yeah.”

“I only worked with her briefly but she seemed like a rational, kind person. Although I can’t say if she’s different during auditions.”

“I guess not.” She looked back down at her phone. Inspiration struck and she put on what she hoped would be a good compromise.

As the music kicked in, Mia watched his brows push together in concentration.

When the lyrics began, she watched his face click in recognition.

“Is this I Just Can’t Wait to be King?”

“I felt like Disney might be a good compromise. Was I right?”

He smiled. “I had this soundtrack. I listened to it constantly for almost three months.”

“I thought you might be a Lion King fan. I take it that was your favourite?”

“It was. But I was exposed to my fair share of princess movies too. Bunny’s pout was always hard to say no to. But the one we usually agreed on was Lilo and Stitch.”

Mia smiled at the thought of them bonding over the movie. “Mine was Sleeping Beauty.”

“Really? It’s not too old fashioned for you?”

“Well, you could go on about outdated gender roles with the man having to save the helpless girl. Sure, their romance was kind of cute but you do have to admit that Phillip went through the most to get his girl. I mean, he escaped prison and slaughtered a DRAGON! But the best part of that movie is Maleficent, hands down. She is the most diabolical, coolest villain ever. And she had some serious class and elegance.”

“She certainly was an enjoyable villain. Very intimidating.”

“And Rattigan. He had the best villain song.”

“Oh yes. The Great Mouse Detective. I forgot about that one.”

Mia sighed. “Everyone always does but it’s so fun. Here, I have to play it for you since you haven’t heard it in probably ages.”

-

Over three hours later, they were listening to Matchbox 20’s How Far We’ve Come. Mia sang along, and even Kamden bobbed along a little bit, which she realized was raucous excitement from him.

When the song faded, they both settled back into their seats, laughing. Mia looked out the window and realized that the sights were becoming more familiar.

“Are we back already?”

“On the outskirts.”

“Wow. That went by really fast.”

“Yes. It did. And you’ll have to remind me where you live.”

She told him her address and he changed lanes. Mia’s shoulders slumped. The weekend really was coming to a close now.

“So what do you think you’ll tell your family?”

“About?”

“About why we broke up. Did you think of a reason yet?”

“I wanted to see how this weekend went first. Most likely it will be about disagreements on having children. It’s realistic considering the length of our fictitious relationship. At this point, it’s likely that we would start talking about the future and where we see the relationship going.”

“Makes sense,” Mia said. What she didn’t say was how cute she imagined Kamden to be as a father.

-

“You can ignore the signs,” Mia said. “They’re garbage. It’s better to take the next right and then it will take you right onto my street.”

He nodded and turned as she instructed. He pulled over next to the building she pointed out and shut off the engine.

She clicked her seatbelt button. “Well, thanks for the ride. It was fun.”

Why the hell was her voice so shaky?

He unbuckled his own seatbelt and she stared at him. “Where are you going?”

He looked equally surprised back at her. “To help you with your bag. It’s my last moments of being a fake boyfriend and I thought I would do it right.”

“Oh. Thanks.” She wasn’t sure to be grateful or nervous about having a few more minutes together.

He retrieved her bag from the trunk and together they ascended the steep stairs into her building. When faced with the elevator, they looked at each other.

“What floor do you live on?”

“Fifth. Should we risk the elevator?”

He did an experimental lift of her suitcase. “Not sure if I’ll survive the stairs with this suitcase. Better take the elevator.”

She pushed the call button and smacked his arm. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you probably packed more than you actually wore.”

The elevator arrived with a ping and their banter continued as they entered.

“But what if it rained? I needed to have clothes for rain too.”

“There wasn’t any rain in the forecast.”

“And look what happened. It did rain.”

“And you didn’t use any rain clothes.”

“Well, that was a sudden downpour. What did you want me to do? Run back to the hotel, get some boots, and go back outside?”

He nodded. “That would have been very sensible.”

She smacked his arm again. “But not very practical.”

The elevator slowed to a stop and took a long moment to open. For a moment, Mia thought they would get stuck again but it certainly didn’t have the same level of dread as the last time. Actually, she almost hoped it would get stuck again.

The doors finally opened with a ping and they stepped out, continuing their debate.

“It’s very logical to get appropriate clothing for the weather.”

Mia could see the smirk on his face and knew he wanted to push it. She just needed the right comeback to fight with.

“I don’t think boots would have helped with getting pooped on by a bird.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “But a raincoat would have.”

She came to a stop outside apartment 512 and he stopped with her, the upbeat mood quieting.

“Well, this is me.”

“Yes, of course.” He slid the suitcase over to her and she took it from him.

“Do you want to come in for some coffee or something?”

“That’s very kind but I should head home. There’s quite a bit of work to do on that case.”

“Yes. Of course. I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t be. I appreciate the invitation.”

She smiled. “It’s always open. Maybe we should actually hang out sometime. You know, now that we’re friends.”

“Friends. Yes. I’d like that. Well, once the work from these cases calms down. I admit that I may not be able to be social for some time. I think I’ve neglected my responsibilities a bit this weekend.”

“Well, it was your sister’s wedding. What were you going to do, work all weekend?” There was a long pause from him and her jaw dropped. “You were going to work all weekend?!”

“Only around the times I wasn’t needed. I thought I would have a bit more time since we originally planned to avoid each other. But once…well…it didn’t seem right to not get to know you properly.”

Mia looked away, fiddling with her keys. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was taking you away from work.”

He bent his neck until he caught her eye. “It’s fine, truly. If it hadn’t been for you and our…adventure, I would have been stressed the whole weekend. I don’t think I would have even been able to enjoy Bunny’s wedding. So thank you. I needed a distraction to keep me from thinking about it.”

“You’re…welcome.”

After a long pause Kamden said, “Well, I shouldn’t keep you any longer. I’m sure you have things to do.”

“Yes!” she said, as if coming to life. “Should probably unpack and all that.”

“Then I’ll let you get to it. Thank you again. Have a good day.”

“You too.”

She stood there awkwardly. Should she shake his hand? Hug him? What was appropriate for this situation?

He answered her worries by nodding his head and heading back down the stairs.

And he was gone.

Mia took a breath, put her key in the lock, and prepared herself to cozy up with a cup of tea and a movie. But before she could close the door behind her, she was faced with Rayna, who looked ready to kill.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for anyone who was keeping track of the number of chapters and is wondering why this suddenly isn't the last chapter anymore, it's because it's not. Partway through posting, I decided to split one of the chapters into two, since I realized how incredibly long it was. So...sorry to get your hopes up that you would reach the end now but it will come soon!

Mia stumbled and fell back into the door.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Mia retorted.

Rayna’s face got closer to Mia’s face, analyzing her intently. Finally, she lifted her arm and gestured to the hallway outside their door. “What the hell was that?” she repeated.

“What was what? I just got home.”

“Bullshit. You know how thin the walls are here. I heard you and Kamden coming back and I prepared myself, thinking you might start yelling at each other. But that was perfectly cordial. What the hell happened?”

Minako fiddled with the handle of her suitcase. “I told you. We reached an understanding.”

“That was not an understanding. That was downright friendly. It’s like The Twilight Zone!” She grabbed Mia by the hand and yanked her over to the couch. “Sit. Talk.”

Knowing full well that Mia would not be let free until she talked, she complied.

Almost an hour later, Rayna was told the whole story. Well, minus those weird actor feelings she was dealing with, and the weirdness under the tree when it rained, and that it actually felt kinda nice to kiss him and that a part of her brain wanted to do it again.

But those feelings weren’t real. They were going to fade in a few days, so she saw no reason to tell Rayna.

“I don’t believe it,” Rayna said for about the seventeenth time.

“Don’t believe what?”

She stared at Mia as if she had three heads. “You two have yelled at each other for the last two, no, three years! And all of it was because you misunderstood each other?!”

“…yeah. That’s what it was.”

“For the love of…” Rayna trailed off as if her energy was gone. “Maggie and I told you that so many times.”

Mia shrugged. “Well, I just had trouble believing you. Is _that_ so hard to believe?”

Rayna sighed. “No. It’s true. You are fucking stubborn.”

“So are you and that’s why I put up with you.”

Rayna let out a huff in a long breath. “So when is your audition?”

“What audition?”

Rayna flicked Mia between the brows. “The audition you get for this weekend dummy! The audition with Florencia that made you agree to this whole weekend.”

“Oh. Yeah. I thought you meant today.”

“I’ve lived with you long enough to know that no one holds auditions on Sundays. So, when is your audition with Florencia?”

“Not sure yet. Kamden still has to arrange it. He said he’ll let me know. But enough about me. How was your weekend?”

Rayna eyed her skeptically but proceeded to tell Mia about her uneventful few days.

-

“Mia, you can’t take another scone. You already tested one for poison. It’s all from one batch. If one isn’t poisoned, none of them are.”

Mia pulled back her hand and rolled her eyes. “Fine. But if a customer dies from your cooking, know that it could have been me instead and the lawsuit would be much smaller.”

Maggie could only shake her head in response.

Mia sipped her coffee as Maggie set the fresh cheddar scones on the cooling racks. It was a slow Tuesday morning but that didn’t prevent people from buying multiples of Maggie’s scones. The cheese ones were Mia’s favourite and she wondered if she could pilfer one when Maggie looked away. They were just so tempting. All warm and flaky from the oven, smelling of fresh bread and melty cheese with chives cooked in between strands of cheese.

“Mia, don’t drool over the scones. And I know exactly how many are here so don’t take one just because I’m not looking.”

“I would never,” she exclaimed dramatically. “In fact, I’m offended you would suggest that. So offended that I’ll step away from your precious work.”

It was Maggie’s turn to roll her eyes. “Sure. At least make sure the displays are clean of your fingerprints.”

“Always,” she called over her shoulder as she exited the swinging black doors.

She hoped a sudden line formed, preventing her from cleaning. But nope. It was just as empty as before, with just one college student spreading papers over two tables.

She examined the displays and there were only four fingerprints on the glass. And they were on the front so they couldn’t be hers. Still, she cleaned them off and hoped that it would pick up soon. Slow days had a tendency to drag so looooooong.

It wasn’t long after that Maggie came through the swinging doors with a tray of fresh scones in her hands for the display.

“There,” she said, sliding them in. “That should do us for the rest of the day.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“There are more in the back. I ended up making one and a half recipes so it should do us. I don’t want too many leftovers at the end of the day.”

“Yes you do. Then I get to take them home and have breakfast ready for the next three days.”

Maggie smacked her playfully with a towel. “If you want, I can just pay your salary in baked goods.”

“Tempting. Think Rayna would accept rent in baked goods?”

The two laughed and Maggie leaned back against the counter.

“So what was happening with you last night?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You seemed awfully distracted that Kam didn’t come out.”

“Did I?”

When Jaden decided he wanted to try a new restaurant, they made a group outing of it. She was surprised that Kamden didn’t make an appearance but she didn’t think she was that vocal about it.

“You asked three times if he was coming. Normally you would be thrilled that he didn’t come. I know you said that you guys get along now but I won’t believe it until I see it.”

“Well, when his case load lightens up, he said he’ll come out again and you can see it for yourself. And then you can stop asking,”

“Seriously, what happened over that weekend?”

“I told you, we came to an understanding.” She repeated those words so many times over the last two weeks since she got back. But everyone just stared at her like she had two heads.

“It sounds to me like you have a crush on him.”

“Of course I don’t!” She tried not to think of his smile, the way he laughed with her when he found her shoving eggs into Jason’s car, the way her hair stood on end when he got too close. “We’re friends now.” She tried to banish the thoughts from her mind. She thought her stupid actor feelings would have disappeared by now. “It’s normal to wonder where your friends are.”

Maggie looked her up and down before saying, “Well, like I said, I guess I’ll have to see it for myself. I’ll be making another batch of muffins,” and disappeared through the swinging black doors.

Mia rolled her eyes. Of course they were friends. Why was that so hard for people to understand? After everything they went through that weekend, how could they not be?

She was distracted from her thoughts when she felt her pocket vibrate. It was a text from Kamden and she smiled. Her smile turned even wider when she read the contents.

“MAGS!” Mia practically screamed, bursting into the back, ignoring how the lone college student jumped in her seat.

Maggie was less surprised at the outburst and merely looked up from her hulking metal mixing stand.

“I GOT THE AUDITION!”

Maggie’s face changed, as if she expected different news. “That’s great. When is it?”

“Thursday at 2. She had a cancellation for something else. I’m okay to leave a bit early Thursday, right?” Mia pulled out her widest eyes and poutiest lip to beg her friend for the favour.

“Have I said no to you yet when it comes to an audition?”

Mia smiled wide and pulled Maggie into a bone crushing hug. “Thank you thank you thank you!”

“I know this one is really important so if you want, you can take the whole day.”

“Really?” Mia pulled her in for an even tighter hug. “You’re the best boss ever!”

“Well, I don’t want you smelling like coffee and baked goods for your audition.”

Before Mia could thank her friend more, there was a yell from the front of the store, demanding to be served.

“Coming!” Mia called back as she went back through the black doors, blowing a kiss to Maggie as she went.

-

Wednesday night found her hardly able to sleep. She wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves that was keeping her up but she found that was muttering lines to herself. Florencia’s office sent over a scene for her to look over. It was generic but could be interesting depending on the performance. She expected that was what he was planning. A good actor could make or break a script.

When she drew a blank on her line, she cursed and grabbed her phone. She pulled up the script and cemented the line in her brain. When she reached the end of the scene, her brain went into overdrive and started it over again. But when she saw that it was 1AM, she tried to force her brain to stop thinking about it.

Easier said than done.

She picked up her phone again. She needed a distraction. Rayna would probably tell her that phone time before bed would wake her up more but screw that. She needed something to take her mind off of the most important audition of her life.

There wasn’t much new on her usual feeds so she started flipping through her pictures. There were some pictures of a particularly gorgeous sunset the other day, a picture of Maggie’s perfect cheese scones, and a selfie of her, Bunny, and Kamden.

It was strange not seeing him for so long. That weekend changed so much between them and she sort of wished he was there to talk with her. He would probably tell her to just stop thinking about it. Easy for him to say.

She found herself staring at their text chain, right from the beginning.

_Did you manage to catch the bus?_

She saw the innocence in it now. He just wanted to know if she made the bus. She definitely overreacted to, well, all of him.

She scrolled down to the bottom, when he texted her about the audition.

_Florencia has an opening. 2pm on Thursday at her downtown office. Please confirm with her office._

It was followed with an address and a phone number. As soon as she finished with the jerk from the cafe, she called Florencia’s office to confirm and texted Kamden.

_done. thanx so much._

_It was all part of our arrangement. You delivered on your part. It was my turn to live up to mine._

_still…thanx_

_Good luck_

She didn’t know what to respond with after that so she left it blank, unanswered. Now, her fingers hovered over the keyboard.

_thanx. really. the trip was fun. wouldn’t have blamed you if you backed out with Florencia though._

She paused before sending it. After hitting send, she was determined to put her phone aside and actually go to sleep. But as she was about to close her phone, she saw three dots pop up. He was awake? And responding to her?

_I would never back out of an agreement. But shouldn’t you be asleep?_

Mia laughed and typed back.

_my audition is not for twelve hours. got lots of time to sleep_

_Then you should start now._

Mia scrunched her face. As if he had any high ground.

_then what are you doing up? ur hardly one to give lectures on being up late_

_Work. I go to court tomorrow and just finishing off my case._

_go to sleep!!!! can’t go to court when ur a zombie._

_Thank you for the concern. Fortunately, I can get by with minimal sleep. But you should definitely get to sleep._

_suggestions?_

_On?_

_how to sleep? can’t stop thinking about my audition._

_Have you tried not thinking about it?_

Mia added a rolling eyes emoji. _Genius._

_Then what would help?_

_don’t know. breathing exercises? spoonful of sugar?_

_I fail to see how a spoonful of sugar would help._

_it did in Mary Poppins._

_That was for taking medicine. Not sleeping._

Mia was about to retort when he sent her a link to the Feed the Birds scene.

_u know an awful lot about Mary Poppins. wouldn’t expect that._

_It was one of Bunny’s favourite movies. Like I said before, I rarely won the fight for the TV._

Mia sent three laughing face emojis and then paused. She wriggled in the covers. She wanted to see him in person again, talk with him. She didn’t think she would miss his company. She thought about inviting him out for a drink but butterflies flew into her stomach at the thought of seeing him again. She stopped. Why were those stupid actor feelings still there? They were only together for four days and it had been two weeks since she saw him. Those feelings should have disappeared by now.

She deleted the message she started and decided to cut it off instead.

_should get to sleep. thanx for the distraction._

_My pleasure. Best of luck tomorrow._

_thanx. good luck with your case tomorrow. sweet dreams._

Sweet dreams? What the hell was that? That was weird to say. She panicked but saw his text come through a moment later.

_Sweet dreams._

She smiled, put her phone down, and fell quickly to sleep.

-

Mia sat in the waiting area, willing herself not to freak out. She was in Florencia’s office, waiting for 2pm to hit. She made sure to arrive ten minutes early to make a good impression but the downside of that was that it spun her nerves into a frenzy.

The printed scene she was sent sat underneath her purse and she kept running over lines in her head, occasionally referencing the paper to make sure she was right. She took a deep breath and smoothed out her skirt. She wore a white cotton dress with a hummingbird print on it and a brown belt. That worked with the script, right? Usually, she would scan the other girls in the room, seeing what they wore but there was no one else. It was weirdly quiet. She reminded herself that this was a private audition and freaked out a bit more again. Her hands began to shake and she took another deep breath.

The clock on the wall read 1:59. Any time now, provided she was punctual with her appointments. God. She didn’t think she could sit here longer if she was late.

As soon as the hand hit two, the receptionist who checked her in came out of the office.

“Mia?”

Her head jerked up. “Yes?”

“She’s ready for you.”

She nodded and took another deep breath before standing up and smoothing out her skirt again. She willed all of the nerves out of her legs and put on her most dazzling smile.

Stepping quickly and confidently, she walked into the office.

Florencia was shorter, with gorgeous dark brown hair. She wore a perfectly fitted red dress with matching lipstick, gold hoop earrings, and, surprisingly, a small nose ring. Mia was relieved to see that she was smiling as she stood up and held out her hand. “Mia, it’s nice to meet you.”

Mia shook her hand, a little at ease that she seemed fairly friendly, but also was careful not to be too overenthusiastic about it. “It’s an honour to meet you.”

“Kamden tells me you have quite the talent for acting.”

“I hope I live up to the hype.”

“Well then, let’s get started. You’ll be reading the scene with Daniel.”

The receptionist came forward, script in hand and Florencia sat back down. “Mia, whenever you’re ready.”

Mia stumbled and rushed to put her purse down out of the way. She stepped back, counted to five, let herself sink into her character, and nodded that she was ready.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

She gauged his face, his expression, trying to work off of him. But his tone wasn’t particularly enthused, and she wondered how many times he read this exact same scene.

“I wanted to see you.

“You wanted to see me? Why?”

He wasn’t exactly the type to be a romcom hero. He was too short, he didn’t have the right kind of smile. And his tone was wrong. It was too tender. It should have been said more hesitantly, with a deeper tone. And he should have a small smirk on one side of his face.

Still, she pushed on. She had to give the best performance of her life. “Because I wanted to see you.”

“So, what, you drove all night just to show up at my door when I’m having breakfast?”

It was strange being at eye level with Daniel too. She was right, he needed to be taller. And his hair should be longer. Settled on what his role should be, she continued, imagining a perfect romcom hero over his own appearance. “Yes, you idiot. Because that’s what people do when they’re in love. They do crazy, stupid things. And all I’ve known is that ever since you moved, I have been miserable. I miss talking with you, I miss our stupid late night walks, our bad movie nights, your homemade burgers. I’ve been salivating for one for weeks. But most of all I miss you. Because I love you and I don’t want to keep going without you. And if you don’t love me too, that’s okay. I just…I just needed you to know.”

As if her will came to life, she imagined Daniel responding in a lower tone of voice. “I love you too. Of course I do. I just didn’t think you felt that way too. I thought that if I moved away, I could get away from you, get over you.”

“Never. I never want you to leave.” In Mia’s eyes, she still pictured Daniel with the image of a perfect romcom hero. She took a step towards him and grazed his hand with her own. “I want you to stay right beside me. Forever.”

“And scene,” Florencia said.

Mia pulled herself out of character and belatedly realized the illusion of the tall man with long hair disappeared, leaving Daniel, with his short hair and slightly too short stature. Then she realized she had tears on her cheeks. She pushed them away as Florencia looked her up and down.

“Impressive,” she continued. “I know Daniel isn’t always the easiest person to act opposite of but that was truly impressive. If you can act that well with him, I’d like to see you opposite a trained actor.”

“Are you saying…”

“Would you be free next Tuesday for some call backs I’m holding?”

Mia burst into a smile. “Of course. Yes!”

“Daniel will get you set up for Tuesday. It was very nice to meet you Mia. I’ll see you then.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I’ll see you then.”

She walked towards the door with a huge smile on her face and just as she reached the door, Florencia called out to her.

“I didn’t know if I could trust Kamden’s judgement for actors but I see I was wrong. If you see him before I do, tell him that, won’t you?”

“I will, thank you again.”

As the door closed behind her, Florencia's words echoed in her head. Kamden.

And in that moment, the visionary man in her audition had a face.

Oh.

_Oh._


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here. The climax of these two dorks falling in love! I hope you all have enjoyed these shenanigans. And posting it today means that it is also a birthday gift to the wonderful Minakosaino, who I adore. Happy birthday!! I hope this fic was worth the two years of waiting.
> 
> And you all should definitely check out her work and give her all of the love because she is wonderfully talented and deserves all of the comments and kudos.

Mia somehow got through scheduling the callback and walked out of the building without her head exploding. Kamden. _Kamden_.

How did she not realize it? All those stupid feelings she felt over the weekend of the wedding, they weren’t fake. They weren’t actor’s syndrome. They were real. Of course they were. That was why she kept thinking about him. Why she asked if he was coming to dinner the other night. Why she felt butterflies when she texted him just last night. Why she pictured him when doing a love scene. She wanted to tell him and her stupid denial filled brain made her see him. How could she be such an idiot?

A passerby bumping into her knocked her out of her reverie and she realized something. She had to see him. Not call him, not text him. She needed to see his face. She needed to know if he felt the same way.

So she ran.

It was hard in platform wedges but she hadn’t worn heels since she was thirteen for nothing. Besides, his office was only a few blocks away. At least she thought so.

-

It was almost a half hour later when she had to admit to herself that she didn’t actually remember where his office was.

In all fairness, she had only been by there once a year ago and didn’t really care. Noah pointed it out when they were driving in Jaden’s car. He made Jaden pull over so he could call Kamden and tell him to stop working so he could come out to have some fun. Also, Noah was kind of drunk and, in hindsight, Mia wasn’t sure if he was even pointing at the right building.

She pulled out her phone and googled what law offices were downtown.

Seven. There were seven fancy shmancy possibilities. Shit shit shit. If only she paid more attention to the company he worked for.

She cursed her past self and ran to the closest one.

-

Four offices later, she was no closer, which was why she was in low spirits when she arrived at number five.

“How can I help you miss?”

The receptionist was older with short cropped hair and earrings so large, Mia wondered if they would constitute as a weapon on an airplane.

“Hi. I’m not sure if I have the right office. I’m looking for Kamden Taylor.”

“Ah yes. His office is down the hall to the right. Are you a client? I haven’t seen you around here, dear.”

“Not exactly…but we do have a sort of…arrangement.”

The woman eyed her skeptically and Mia immediately regretted her words. Wasn’t that exactly what a hooker would say? The receptionist’s eyes flicked to her phone before looking back at her. Mia also realized that she probably looked sort of crazy. Running around downtown meant that her hair was probably sticking up and she couldn’t imagine what happened to her makeup.

“I’m a friend. I just have something I need to talk to him about.”

Deciding that Mia wouldn’t be her problem any longer, she said, “Go ahead then. I’ll call ahead to his assistant.”

Mia recognized that tone. _We have eyes on you so don’t poke your head anywhere you shouldn’t._

She nodded and went on her way.

But as she walked through the offices, she became increasingly nervous. Her main focus was to get here to see Kamden, to tell him how she felt. But now that she was here, she had no idea what she should say. And there were a lot more people around than she would have expected. It felt sort of claustrophobic. But she was here, no backing out now. She tried to straighten her hair and wrangle the fly aways but it was proving difficult without a mirror.

She saw his name on the door as she approached and her heart began to beat faster.

“Can I help you?” came a voice from her right.

He must have been Kamden’s assistant. A younger guy who most certainly got the call about the strange, crazed looking girl on her way to see him. At least, that’s what she assumed the receptionist told this guy.

“I just needed to talk to Kamden. I’m a friend. Is he in the middle of something?”

“Mr. Taylor is unavailable at the moment. But I can schedule a meeting with him sometime next week. What is the nature of your visit?”

Mia wanted to roll her eyes but had a feeling that would mean she would be taken less seriously. “What, is he on the phone or something? I can wait until he’s done. I just…I have something very important to speak with him about.”

“As I said, Mr Taylor is very busy at the moment and cannot be disturbed.”

“Fine, if you don’t want help me, I’ll contact him myself. Even though I’m three feet from the door.”

She pulled out her phone and Kamden’s assistant stared at her, waiting to call her bluff.

She thought about calling but just in case he was on an important call, she didn’t want to disturb him. Love confession or not, she didn’t want to intrude on something important. Instead, she decided to text him.

She triumphantly pulled up her texts and began typing but stopped when she caught the words she messaged him last night.

_thanx. good luck with your case tomorrow. sweet dreams._

“He’s in court,” she muttered. She turned to the assistant. “He’s still in court, isn’t he?!”

“Miss, I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice.”

“Just tell me he’s in court.”

His eyes shifted nervously and Mia took that as an affirmative.

“Thank you,” she said, breezing back out of the office.

She half expected security to follow her out but when she reached the street, she was still alone At least that was a good sign.

Now to get to the courthouse.

-

She was incredibly thankful that the courthouse was only seven blocks away. She was less thankful that she just missed the walk sign on every single crosswalk on the way there. Maybe she didn’t need to sprint at full speed. Finally, she arrived at the big, imposing building.

Mia checked her phone. 4:22 and according to Google, the courthouse closed at five. She only hoped that his case didn’t finish early and that he was already gone. She let herself catch her breath and opened her camera, just to make sure she didn’t look too crazy. Okay, not too bad, just some mussed hair and some minor trails of sweat. As she blotted her face with a tissue, she told herself that if he wasn’t there, she would damn well call him and find out where he went to. Movies always made this look so much easier.

Looking a little less crazed, she pulled back her shoulders and walked inside.

To utter chaos.

She had never been inside the courthouse before but she didn’t imagine it to be so big or for there to be so many people. Even from the outside it didn’t look THAT big. She always assumed the courthouse was one, well, courtroom. She never realized how many different ones there would be. And how many people would be walking around. She just thought she would wait outside the courtroom for him to leave, take him aside to have a conversation and then tell him that she was in love with him. But there were at least half a dozen different courtrooms and there were multiple exits so it wasn’t as if she could just stand in the lobby. What if he left through another door? What if he already left for the day?

She didn’t want to open the door to a case that she wasn’t allowed in. The last thing she needed was to hear confidential information and be taken away past Kamden in a pair of handcuffs or something.

She stared up and down the hallways, wondering what her best move would be. She needed a way to find out if he was still here. She stared at people coming down the hallways. Should she ask them if they knew him? Would that make her seem crazy?

She glanced out the window, through the lobby. Something, she just needed something that would definitely tell her that he was still here.

Her head whipped back to the window over the parking lot.

Like his car.

-

The parking lot wasn’t huge but it wasn’t small either. She figured that it wouldn’t be too hard, just look for the stupidly fancy silver car.

Unfortunately, after two aisles, she realized there were A LOT of silver cars and more stupidly fancy cars than she expected. She tried to remember something, anything distinguishable about it. It wasn’t like he had bumper stickers on the back or plushies in the back window. But there had to be something, something that would help in figuring out which car was his. She knew what it looked like but so many of them looked similar that she wasn't sure anymore.

At one point there were three almost identical cars next to each other. But she couldn’t remember what brand of car it would be or what the license plate was. She blinked back tears. Why was this so hard?

She got closer. Maybe there was something inside the cars that could help? She edged between two of them and hoped that she didn’t look like some kind of carjacker.

That was when she noticed it. In the car on the far right, there was a flash of green in the cupholder. Looking closer, she realized that it was a Bulbasaur.

He was still here! She wanted to cry in relief. After all, how many fancy shmancy silver cars would have a Bulbasaur in the cup holder?

She checked her phone. 4:56. Okay. If the courtroom closed at five, he should be out here soon. But what if he went for drinks after? What if they were in the middle of something really tense and the judge wouldn’t stop proceedings for the day in the interest of getting a ruling? What if a fight broke out in the courtroom?

 _Stop Mia. This isn’t a courtroom drama. This is real life._ It would be calm and orderly and he would be off on time. And she didn’t think he was the type to go out for drinks after work. Hopefully.

The pounding in her feet started to demand her attention. While she was used to heels, she definitely wasn’t used to running in them and she was starting to feel the ache. She picked up each of her feet and rotated them at the ankle, trying to relieve some of the pressure but the relief was only temporary until she put her foot back down. She could take her wedges off but she didn’t exactly trust the ground barefoot. Instead, she leaned against his car, trying to take some of the pressure off.

WEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWEEEEEOOOOOOOOO

“What the shit?!” Mia jumped. “I’m not trying to steal you!” she yelled at his car.

PEEEYOOOOOOOOOOPEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOOOO

“My butt sat in you for hours! Don’t you recognize my butt?!”

WAWPWAWPWAWPWAWPWAWPWAWPWAWP

“It’s me! You can stop…alarming people!”

WEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWEEEEE-

The alarm cut off and Mia sighed in relief. “That’s better. See? No need to cause a ruckus. Glad you finally decided to listen.”

“It’s not voice activated. That was me.”

Mia’s stomach dropped when she heard his voice. When she turned around, sure enough, he was standing there, car clicker in hand. He looked good, in a 3 piece navy blue suit with a white shirt and pale blue tie. There was a crease in his brow and she wasn’t sure if that was because of his case or her appearance at his car.

“Hi. I guess you heard me…”

“Yelling at my car to stop the alarm? I did.”

“Not my finest moment.”

“So…what brings you here to yell at my car?” There was a tone in his voice that she couldn’t quite place.

“Um…well…” This was insane. She spent the last two and a half hours running around town tracking him down to tell him how she felt. But now, facing him, she found it hard to string words together. She had a plan and that certainly didn’t involve a car alarm. And he looked good. So good. She was an idiot to think anything she felt for him was fake. “I-I wanted to talk to you about something.” She glanced around at all the people coming to their cars. “Maybe we should…” she trailed off and gestured to the boardwalk.

He said nothing and walked with her to the water.

It was a beautiful view and Mia felt herself getting calmer. The water opened up before them and a salty breeze blew across her face. It was strange. In her mind, building this up, she was going to run up to him and yell at him that she was in love with him. But faced with him, she felt like she owed him more.

“So what do you want to talk about? Is it your turn to call in a favour? Do you need a fake boyfriend for a weekend?”

Mia stared at him. His hair blew gently in the wind, his suit was perfectly pressed, and she felt as if his beautiful grey eyes were looking right into his soul.

“Mia-”

“I stopped pretending at the festival!” She didn’t mean for it to come out so loudly or so suddenly. All she knew is that she wanted to kiss him again without any kind of fake partner pretense.

“Pretending?”

“To, you know, enjoy spending time with you. It got a little easier after yelling at each other in the elevator. And then we went to the festival and I realized I didn’t have to pretend anymore. It just happened. And then, when I kissed you to prove to your stupid cousin that we were actually a thing…” She averted her gaze and stared at his tie instead. “There were some other feelings that came up. I thought it was just one of those things. You know, when actors think they’re falling in love with their co-star. But it’s just because you’re faking those feelings.” She peeked up at him. He was smiling and she found she couldn’t look away anymore. “But I don’t think they were fake.”

“Oh?” Damn, why did he have to sound so sexy just making a single sound?

“Yeah. In the two weeks since the wedding, I find myself thinking about you. Maggie was giving me a bad time that I kept asking if you were coming the other night.”

His smile turned pensive. “I admit, I’ve been avoiding you since the wedding.”

Her heart plummeted. “Why?”

“Because you’re not the only one who developed feelings that weekend.” Mia’s throat went dry. “I thought it was a mixture of you being kind and your excellent acting skills. I suppose you aren’t as good of an actor as I thought.”

He said it with a smile and Mia simultaneously wanted to smack him and kiss the smile from his face. She decided on the first and smacked his arm. “Then why did I get a callback?”

"You got a callback?"

"I did. So I guess I am a pretty good actor."

“Then I suppose I was wrong.” He closed the last of the distance between them. “It wouldn’t be the first time I misjudged a situation.”

His cologne smelled too good, he looked too good. She could have sworn there was physical electricity between them. Every hair was on end. And Mia couldn’t control herself anymore.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have jumped at him but it was worth it when her lips met his. She didn’t think it was possible for him to kiss even better than he did that weekend but his lips matched her own perfectly. His arms wrapped around her instinctively when she jumped but quickly settled and wrapped tighter around her, trying to make up for the closeness they missed out on that weekend.

When they eventually separated, Mia didn’t dare let go. And it didn’t seem like he didn’t want to either. He did, however, pull back a little more to look at her face and brush away a strand of hair.

“You know. I got a call from Bunny the other day,” he said.

“Is that so important right now?”

“I think you’ll want to know about this.”

“Okay…”

“It turns out we weren’t as stealthy as we thought. Do you remember when we sat and talked after you filled Jason’s car with eggs?” She nodded. “Well, it turns out Bunny came out a little earlier than she made herself known. She heard you thanking me for bringing you as a fake girlfriend.”

Mia’s jaw dropped. “She did?”

“Yes, she did. She told me as much when she called me. I suppose I’m not as good of an actor either. I let my feelings show too much. She saw her brother falling in love. She also told me that I was an idiot if I wasn’t trying to woo you, her words.”

Mia opened her arms wide. “So you must be an idiot. Where is the wooing?”

He didn’t say a word and instead leaned back in to kiss her.

She supposed that would work.

-

Kam propped himself up on his elbow and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

“So who do you think was the most shocked?” Mia asked. “Rayna or Noah?”

“It’s difficult to say. They weren’t the ones I was looking at.”

“Flatterer,” she teased and stuck out her tongue.

It had been eight days since Mia tracked Kam down at the courthouse. Eight days since they both stopped being so damn stubborn and just let things happen. And Mia couldn’t stop smiling since. Fortunately, she was able to pass it off as happiness about her audition and callback, which she was still waiting to hear back about.

And a mere fifteen hours ago, they revealed their relationship to their friends. Kam thought it wise to tell them sooner rather than later but Mia wanted the dramatic reveal and managed to convince him that it would be more fun.

Everyone gathered at Noah and Maggie’s apartment the previous night for one of their usual get togethers. Mia arrived fashionably late and greeted Kam with a kiss that literally froze everyone in their tracks.

“It did take quite some time to convince Noah we weren’t joking.”

Mia laughed. “That’s because Noah is about as observant as a bat.” When Kam stared back at her blankly, she continued. “You know, because they’re blind.”

“Actually, recent researchers shows that bats aren’t as blind as we think they are.”

“Fine. I retract my statement and replace it with ‘as observant as a pigeon who flies into a pane of glass’.”

“Well, that has to do with a pigeon’s limited understanding of a clear pane of glass.”

Mia smacked his shoulder. She tried to sound stern but couldn’t help but laugh. “Stop getting all lawyer on me. Is this what it’s going to be like being with you?”

He smirked. “Sometimes. But you shouldn’t deny that it’s what drew you to me.”

Rolling her eyes she replied, “Yeah. That’s definitely what drew me to you. There was definitely nothing else. It’s not as if you’re kind, or sweet, or funny, or incredibly caring.” She kissed his lips gently between each adjective and she watched as a glimmer grew in his eyes. “Not to mention that great body.”

“Which you saw far too early.”

She lifted up the sheet and stole a peek. Looking back at him she said, “Doesn’t seem to bother you anymore.”

He pulled her in closer and dropped a kiss on her bare shoulder. “Well, I think that circumstances have changed rather drastically since then, don’t you?”

“Agreed.”

He kissed her hairline. “And to think, we could have been doing this the whole time instead of yelling at each other.” He took her lips with his own and she felt a shiver run down to her toes. She wondered if every kiss would be this good.

“Agreed. This is much better.”

She smiled against his lips but was interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating. She seriously considered yelling at the person on the other line that they were interrupting something very important. But that thought disappeared when she saw the caller ID.

“It’s Florencia’s office!” They both sat upright and Mia tried to control the nerves in her voice as she answered. “Hello, Mia speaking.”

“Mia, it’s Daniel from Florencia’s office. Florencia loved you in the call backs and we want to officially offer you the role.”

All thoughts of professionalism disappeared. “Yes. YES! I would love to!”

“Wonderful. Would you be free to come down to the office tomorrow to make it official?”

“Yes, I can make that work. What time?”

“First thing, 9AM.”

“Amazing! I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.”

Mia hit end call and found herself frozen in place. All she could do was whisper, “I got the part.” As the news became real, her volume grew. “I got the part!”

“Congratulations. It’s very well deserved.”

Tears started to fall from her eyes before she realized she was even crying. “I don’t believe it.”

He scooted closer to her and cupped her face. “Are you alright?"

She finally found the ability to move. “Better than alright. Kam, I got the lead in a movie. This has been my dream since I was six. It’s…it’s finally happening.”

“And you will be outstanding.”

It was amazing to see so much in his face. She wondered for the one thousandth time how she never saw the subtleties in his expressions. There was so much tenderness and love in his eyes. The tears eased as she focused on his face.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For the audition. I mean, I know you only offered it as leverage so I would be your fake girlfriend. I knew it was a long shot that it would work out. But it did. I did it. I got a lead role.”

“You’re very welcome. I suppose the universe had a plan for us after all. And you falling in love with me was very helpful in that.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You say that as if this was all on me. You fell in love with me too.”

“I did. You proved hard to resist.”

She put her phone to the side and turned back to him. There was a question that needed asking. “And when exactly did that happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean, Mr. Lawyer, is that you despised me before that weekend. I told you when things started to change for me. When did it happen for you?”

“I confess that when we first met, I was intrigued by you. But, like we established in the elevator, I misinterpreted your actions. Once that was cleared up, I started interpreting your actions properly. And when you handed me that Bulbasaur, I think my feelings began to change.”

“But you never said anything.”

“I tried. Unfortunately, birds and sisters kept interrupting me."

Understanding clicked all at once for Mia. “You-that’s why…” She smacked herself in the head. “I thought I was imagining some kind of weird tension.”

“Definitely not imaginary. And then I didn’t know how you felt so that gave me some hesitation to say anything.”

“Well, I’m glad that we’re finally on the same page. But do you really have to go in to work today?”

“Don’t you have to go to work too?”

“I’m sure Maggie would understand if I didn’t come in. Besides,” she started, looking at the clock, “I’m not already late.”

“I would have been at work already if you weren’t proving to be such a distraction.”

“That sounds like a you problem. I’m just innocently lying here in your bed.”

“Which is the exact distraction I’m talking about.”

She shifted her position and rested her head in her hand. “Do you mean like this?”

He smirked. “Exactly like that.” He let out a low growl in his throat before grabbing his phone and putting it to his ear. “Jake, I won’t be in today. Please cancel my appointments and pass on my apologies. I’m afraid I’ll be stuck in bed all day.”

With a hasty goodbye, he turned back to Mia and intended to make good on that. After all, they had a lot of lost time to catch up on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it all the way here, thank you. Sincerely, thank you. And I want to thank everyone who has left me such wonderful comments and/or kudos. Seeing that email notification brings me so much joy. Love you all!


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